Umbilical cord samples tested positive for antibacterial agents

Recent data show pregnant women and their unborn children are significantly exposed to common antibacterial agents triclosan and triclocarban.

The data are being presented at the National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society this week.

Benny Pycke, PhD, of Arizona State University, and colleagues assessed blood and urine samples from 181 pregnant woman/infant pairs. The study cohort was an urban, multi-ethnic population from Brooklyn, N.Y. Participants were recruited between 2007 and 2009.

“We looked at the exposure of pregnant women and their fetuses to triclosan and triclocarban, two of the most commonly used germ-killers in soaps and other everyday products. We found triclosan in all of the urine samples from the pregnant women that we screened. We also detected it in about half of the umbilical cord blood samples we took, indicating it transfers to fetuses. Triclocarban was also in many of the samples,” Pycke said in a press release.

Triclosan and triclocarban are used in more than 2,000 commonly used products that are marketed as antimicrobial, including toothpastes, soaps, detergents, carpets, paints, school supplies and toys, according to researchers.

Study findings indicated a link between women with higher levels of butyl paraben, commonly used in cosmetics, and shorter height among newborns. Long-term consequences are unclear, but it could mean widespread exposure to these compounds could cause a subtle but large-scale shift in birth sizes, study researcher Laura Greer, PhD, said in the release.

State policymakers, the FDA and industry have recognized the increasing evidence against triclosan. Some companies, such as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, have announced they are phasing out triclosan from some products. The FDA and Environmental Protection Agency are reviewing the use and effects of these compounds, according to the release.

“If you cut off the source of exposure, eventually triclosan and triclocarban would quickly be diluted out, but the truth is that we have universal use of these chemicals, and therefore also universal exposure,” study researcher Rolf Halden, PhD, said in the release.

For more information:

Pycke B. Presented at: National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society; August 10-14; San Francisco.

Disclosure: The study received funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the New York Community Trust.