Caution: Antibacterial Soap & the Effects

I read an interesting article the other day which has me rethinking the use of antibacterial soaps. According to studies, antibacterial soaps do not clean any better than ordinary soap and water. An active chemical ingredient called triclosan can have a strong impact on our environment in many ways. Triclosan is added to approximately 75 percent of soaps and other consumer products as an antibacterial agent. It breaks down in water and sunlight into forms of dioxin. University of Minnesota researchers have found dioxins derived from triclosan in Mississippi River sediments. (Regular soaps that do not purport to be antibacterial do not have triclosan).

One of the problems with triclosan is it damages genes in bacteria which creates immune strains of bacteria. The other potential danger is the effect on our watersheds and the living things which use them-- that includes us. The chemical structure of triclosan looks very much like thyroid hormone. In studies with tadpoles by Caren Helbing of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, they found that triclosan can disrupt thyroid function in frogs and hence their development. This could have implications for human development.

I want to mention that my writing here is not exhaustive and was gathered from several sources. There is much more to this story so I encourage anyone wanting more info to seek it on your own. This is simply food for thought. No doubt we and our children are exposed to an exorbitant number of chemicals everyday. Use caution. You may go to Living on Earth: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=06-P13-00044&segmentID=1 as well as other sites--just Google them.

Too Much Stuff!

This weekend I assisted with our local electronics recycling day from 9:00-2:00. It was a success and a great deal of electronic equipment will be recycled instead of buried in a landfill. It was an eye-opener. I know intellectually that we are a "throw-away" society. I know that technology advances in quantum leaps. I know it is easier and more cost efficient to buy new than to have something repaired these days.

I watched car after car unload numerous televisions. Of course, the switch to digital essentially made many TVs obsolete. Many cars delivered 2, 3. and 4 computers. Of course how long had they been holding on to these just waiting for someone to make recycling a possibility and convenient?
The piles of televisions, hard drives, monitors, keyboards, printers, etc. was stunning. Just 5 hours on one day, in one small town, and an estimated 200 cars . . .

I realize there are always circumstances in which we must buy new---such as electronics breaking, needing to upgrade, too costly to repair, etc. but I began to think about all the possessions I own.
Perhaps REDUCE would be the best environmental act. Step One.

The quote that kept coming into my mind over and over was Thoreau's: "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." What can I afford to let alone? What can you afford to let alone?