Disinfectants in house cleaning and personal care products - not needed and an environmental hazard

Sunnuntai 2.7.2017 klo 18.06 - Mikko Nikinmaa

Disinfectants are extensively used both in cleaning and personal care. They kill unselectively bacteria and molds. A major compound in disinfectants is triclosan, which can nowadays be found in most water bodies in the world. Since it is a very common contaminant of waters, there have been approximately 50 studies about its toxicity to various organisms published in Aquatic Toxicology in 2010's. Apart from being toxic to the target organisms - bacteria, cyanobacteria and other biofilm components including unicellular algae, triclosan is toxic to non-target organisms such as mussels, crustaceans, fish and frogs. What makes the compound worrysome as a pollutant is that effects on non-target species are reported in environmentally realistic concentrations. While all the mechanisms of action of triclosan are not known, at least development in fish and frogs is affected. The compound affects thyroid hormone pathway, which is known to be involved in the development and metamorphosis of frogs.

Since disinfectants are not really needed - healthy communities of micro-organisms are causing no harm - and since environmentally realistic concentrations of triclosan already cause toxic effects, the use  of the compound should be minimized. The benefits are hardly great enough to justify the hazards.