meta-roj

This site is currently broken

Friday, August 20, 2004

3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide in the water?

to follow up on the bad air, i thought a story about bad water was in order….

3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide, also known as triclocarban or tcc is one of those antibacterial things they put in soap. the tricky part is that the local scientist folks around here found this stuff in every stream they tested. they think it probably bioaccumulates, but nobody really knows, and these people had to cook up a whole new test just to find it.

“It’s somewhat unsettling that we’ve been using this persistent disinfectant for almost half a century at rates approaching 1 million pounds per year and still have essentially no idea of what exactly happens to the compound after we flush it down the drain. Further studies are needed to determine the effect of triclocarban on aquatic life and potential pathways of unwanted human exposure,” said Dr. Halden.

tip of the day: don’t eat the soap.

posted by roj at 4:50 am