The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it is banning the sale of some antibacterial soaps and washes, saying the products are no more effective than conventional soap and water in preventing illnesses and may not be safe to use over long periods of time.
The rule applies to products – such as liquid soaps, bar soaps and body washes – that contain one or more of 19 active ingredients, including the most commonly used, triclosan and triclocarban. Manufacturers will have one year to reformulate their products or take them off the market, the agency said.
“Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water,” said Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. “In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term.”
The rule does not affect consumer hand sanitizers, wipes or antibacterial products used in hospitals and other health-care settings – although in June, the agency requested data to support the safety and effectiveness of certain active ingredients in those products. At the time, it emphasized that it was not asking for any consumer hand sanitizer products to be removed from store shelves.
The agency issued a proposed rule in 2013 on antibacterial soaps and washes after data suggested long-term exposure to certain ingredients could cause bacterial resistance or unanticipated hormonal effects. It directed manufacturers to provide the agency with data on the ingredients’ safety and effectiveness if they wanted to keep using them.
In announcing the final rule Friday, the FDA said that manufacturers did not provide the necessary data for the 19 ingredients covered in the regulation.
Several manufacturers have already began phasing out the use of some of the ingredients, including triclosan and triclocarban. Triclosan typically has been used in liquid “antibacterial” soaps, while triclocarban has been used in bar soaps.
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(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Laurie McGinley
