[Pharmwaste] Triclosan building up in dolphins (article)

[Sue Dayton]

*Note: A recent EPA study found high levels of the antimicrobial
triclocarban (similar to triclosan) in sewage sludge being spread on
farmlands: http://www.beyondpesticides.org:80/dailynewsblog/?p=1196







Sue Dayton
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
North Carolina Healthy Communities Program
PO BOX 44
Saxapahaw, NC 27340
(336) 525-2003
sdayton at swcp.com
 
 
 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-  Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Tenace,
Laurie
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:34 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Triclosan building up in dolphins (article)

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/triclosan-and-dolphins


Germ-killing chemical from soaps, toothpaste building up in dolphins 
Triclosan is the germ-killing chemical of choice in hundreds of products,
including liquid hand soaps, toothpaste and deodorants. Now some scientists
are calling for its removal from consumer products because it is building up
in the ocean's food web. A new study found that one-third of the bottlenose
dolphins tested off South Carolina and almost one-quarter of those tested
off
Florida carried traces of triclosan in their blood. The concentrations found
in the dolphins are known to disrupt the hormones and growth and development
of other animals. 

By Brett Israel
Environmental Health News
August 11, 2009


Dolphins are swimming in waters tainted with germ-killing soaps, but they
aren't winding up squeaky clean.

Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical found in everyday bathroom and kitchen
products, is accumulating in dolphins at concentrations known to disrupt the
hormones and growth and development of other animals.

Scientists have found that one-third of the bottlenose dolphins tested off
South Carolina and almost one-quarter of those tested off Florida carried
traces of triclosan in their blood. It is the first time the chemical has
been reported in a wild marine mammal - a worrisome finding, researchers
say,
because it shows it is building up in the ocean's food web.

Triclosan is the germ-killing chemical of choice in hundreds of products,
including liquid hand soaps, toothpaste, deodorants and cutting boards. Now
some scientists are calling for its removal from consumer products.

"The fact that this chemical is found in the environment and is being
detected in a top level predator certainly warrants concern," said Patricia
Fair, a research physiologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and lead author of the dolphin study, which was published
online in the journal Environmental Pollution in May.

Scientists cannot say what effect triclosan might have on dolphins, but lab
studies conducted on other animals suggest that it could be jeopardizing
their health. Studies in bullfrogs found that triclosan disrupts the
endocrine system - blocking the tadpoles' development into frogs at
concentrations found in the environment. Another study found triclosan
alters
thyroid hormones in rats, which is another sign of endocrine system
disruption.

Many scientists weren't surprised to see triclosan turn up in dolphins, due
to the chemical's widespread use. In the United States, 76 percent of liquid
soaps and 26 percent of bar soaps contain triclosan, according to a 2001
study in the American Journal of Infection Control. In Europe, approximately
350 tons are used in commercial products.

"With the sheer amount being used, it's actually starting to accumulate [in
more top predators]," said Caren Helbing, a molecular biologist at the
University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada, who was not involved
with the dolphin study.

After spitting your toothpaste down the sink or washing your liquid soap
down
the drain, it ends up in a sewage treatment plant, where 90 to 98 percent of
the chemical is broken down, before the wastewater is discharged into
freshwater or directly into oceans along the coasts. Triclosan was one of
the
most frequently detected chemicals in a survey of streams in 30 states
conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Triclosan builds up in fatty tissues, so it passes up the food chain from
animal to animal, including humans.

Three-quarters of people tested in the United States have triclosan in their
urine, according to a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. It also has been found in breast milk of Swedish women. The
concentrations reported in humans are similar to those found in dolphins.

Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug
Administration regulate triclosan in consumer products.

Last October, after reviewing the existing science, the EPA decided to
approve the chemical for continued use. The EPA said triclosan "may
bioaccumulate, potentially posing a concern for aquatic organisms." But it
concluded that the levels coming from households are too low to be toxic to
fish or other aquatic creatures.

Nevertheless, the agency added new requirements. Triclosan manufacturers
must
submit toxicology reports and an environmental monitoring plan. Also, the
EPA
decided that it will review the chemical again in four years because of "the
rapidly developing scientific database for triclosan," according to an
agency
document.

"Currently, the Agency intends to begin that process in 2013, ten years
earlier than originally planned," the document says.
In the meantime, Swiss-based chemical company Ciba, the major manufacturer
of
triclosan, announced in March that within a year it will stop using it for
clothing, textiles, plastic and other uses registered with the EPA. The
company says its decision was based on market decisions, not concerns over
its safety.

Ciba, however, will continue to use the chemical in soaps and other personal
care products and medical equipment, "where the proven safety and efficacy
of
triclosan is most clearly valued by our customers and supported by customer
demand," according to a statement by the company, now part of chemical giant
BASF. Those products come under the control of the FDA, not the EPA.

Paul DeLeo, director of environmental safety for the Soap and Detergent
Assn., which represents companies with products that contain triclosan, says
that the amounts found in dolphins and other animals are too small to have
any effect.

In the new study, the blood levels in 26 dolphins tested in waters off
Charleston, S.C., and in Indian River Lagoon in Central Florida ranged from
0.025 to 0.27 parts per billion.

Researchers say it's how triclosan behaves, not the amount, that is
critical.
As little as 0.03 parts per billion has disrupted the endocrine system of
frogs in the laboratory.

"It sounds like a very, very little bit, but in biology that's in the range
that normal hormones work," said Catherine Propper, an endocrinologist at
the
Northern Arizona University who studies amphibians exposed to chemicals in
wastewater.

The levels found in the environment concern scientists because of
triclosan's
remarkable biological structure. Triclosan is strikingly similar to thyroid
hormone, so it might bind to hormone receptors, said Helbing, author of the
frog study. Because frog and mammal endocrine systems are similar, triclosan
can potentially "affect how hormones work in ways that aren't intended" in
dolphins, and maybe even humans, she said. Altering thyroid function in
humans and animals might cause abnormal brain development and other
developmental defects.

But making the leap from bullfrog studies to dolphins, or even humans, is
not
so simple. Rarely is triclosan the only chemical found in an ecosystem, so
pinpointing cause and effect in the wild is a daunting challenge. But
scientists say further lab testing can confirm these early findings and
paint
a clearer picture of triclosan's long-term effects.

"Dolphins are mammals just like us," Helbing said. "They are telling us
about
potential health effects. We need to perk up and listen."

Even without triclosan, dolphins carry a chemical cocktail of toxic
substances in their bodies. Several other compounds that have built up in
ocean animals already have been banned because of concerns about their
persistence in the environment and potential health effects in wildlife and
people.

In 1990, high levels of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which can
suppress the immune system, were found in striped dolphins in the
Mediterranean at extremely high levels. The pesticide DDT, brominated
flame-retardants, perfluorinated compounds and mercury also contaminate
dolphins around the world. Wildlife experts say these chemicals place
dolphins at risk of reproductive failure and disease. PCBs may have
contributed to large die-offs of dolphins in the Mediterranean and along the
East Coast of the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.

While most animal studies have focused on these so-called persistent organic
pollutants, newly emerging pollutants found in pharmaceuticals and personal
care products are under increasing analysis.

Triclosan is the germ-killing chemical of choice in hundreds of products,
including liquid hand soaps, toothpaste, deodorants and cutting boards. Now
some scientists are calling for its removal from consumer products. "A lot
of
these compounds are in the environment and they do have impacts on
[animals']
physiology. But whether they'll have impacts on fitness and survival, that
needs longer term study," Propper said.


Laurie Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Waste Reduction Section
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Rd., MS 4555
Tallahassee FL 32399-2400
P: 850.245.8759
F: 850.245.8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us 

Mercury: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm 

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