Does anyone know if these products cause birth defects?

Question

Several questions below:

I recently learned that Triclosan a common ingredient in almost every antibacterial hand soap & body wash on the market may have teratogenic effects.

I also learned that pregnant women should not use products containing Salicylic Acid which many face washes and zit creams do.

Now, I'm wondering if the hand sanitizer I use is safe. It has Ethyl and Isopropyl Alcohol as some of the main ingredients. Are these absorbed into the skin? Can they cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome??

Why doesn't anyone tell pregnant women this stuff??? I'm nearly 7 months pregnant and have been using products with these ingredients for years. Do you think my baby is at risk? Has anyone out there used these products and had healthy babies?

Answer 1

Triclosan's also in some toothpastes, at least in the US and Canada.

But.

"Acute, subacute/subchronic, and chronic toxicity profiles have been established to determine that triclosan is neither an acute oral toxicant nor that it acts as a carcinogen, mutagen, or teratogen."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8807001&dopt=Citation

And it does work, too, apparently:

"One hundred forty pregnant women 3 months gestation were enrolled in a 9 month, double-blind clinical study to evaluate the effect of 0.3% triclosan/copolymer dentifrice on gingivitis, compared to a placebo dentifrice. Women were stratified into two balanced groups according to their baseline gingivitis scores. They then received oral prophylaxis and were assigned to use either a placebo or the triclosan dentifrice for the next 9 months. The 3, 5 and 9 month results of this study showed that the triclosan dentifrice provided statistically significant reductions in gingivitis of 19.73, 27.91 and 38.45%, respectively, compared to the placebo dentifrice."

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18186483

Finally:

"Triclosan, a chlorophenoxyphenol used in several commercial products, was tested in the mouse in vivo somatic mutation test (spot test) by intraperitoneal injection on day 9.25 or 10.25 postconception. Although the dose range tested overlapped the toxic, the frequency of presumed somatic mutations was not significantly greater in the experimental groups than in the methanol-injected controls; and the results rule out with 95% confidence a spot incidence 5 or more times greater than the control incidence. These findings fail to confirm the claim by Fahrig et al. (1978) that triclosan is mutagenic in the spot test."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7432367&dopt=Citation

Salicylic acid, at least as used in acne products, is debatable. These things are pretty dose-dependent, and the _trivial_ exposure you get from putting a low concentration of something on your face -- especially if it's just in a wash -- isn't anything to lose sleep over. And:

"Overall, the study confirms a dose-response relationship for SA-induced maternal reproductive effects and supports a no observable effect level (NOEL) for this compound of 80 mg/kg/day for adverse effects on parturition."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8600612&dopt=Citation

ORAL dose. In rats.

Thus: relax, Mom. There's very, very little that isn't safe when not taken to extremes, and that includes alcohol. See

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/FetalAlcoholSyndrome.html

for a start. Isopropyl alcohol is -- oh, good heavens. Relax, Mom!

Try http://scholar.google.com/ to look this stuff up; don't just take every pregnancy web site and book's hyper-cautious recommendation at face value.

Answer 2

I agree with other answers and would like to add:

Would you rather worry about how minuscule of a part of your antibacterial soap is somehow on your skin long enough to absorb into your blood stream, or would you rather have the bacteria on your hands and under your nails??

The salicylic acid isn't something to worry about either (I hope worrying doesn't make you break out lol!) because you probably aren't using a prescription-strength 8 times a day.

Again, with the clean hands and the rubbing alcohol-based hand sanitizers, weigh your options. If a bit of rubbing alcohol on your hands is WAY less than a glass of wine a day (which some Dr.'s and most of Europe will say is OK). Also, when you have blood drawn or if you need a Rhogam shot, doesn't the Dr./nurse/tech rub the area down with a swipe of rubbing alcohol?

I think if it was that much concern or if the alternative wasn't much worse, then they wouldn't do it or allow it.

You stick to what you feel is best though.

Answer 3

You have to have much higher levels than what you are getting exposed to in order to have birth defects.
You will certainly not get FAS from the alcohol in hand sanitizer. You have to toss down a few drinks daily in order to get FAS, and you don't absorb that much alcohol from the hand sanitizer thru the skin and into the bloodstream to worry about alcohol effects on the fetus.
I would watch eating shrimp (filter feeders, their little bodies build up toxins that they filter out of the ocean, which cleans the ocean but they accumulate the toxins), eating Chinese food (contains MSG and that has been suspect in neurological damage in babies)--MSG is also in soup, etc. so read the labels.
Pass on eating liver--except calf's liver once in a while is ok--because the liver is the organ that detoxifies and so thus it contains the impurities that it filters out for the cow. A baby calf's liver doesn't have the level of impurities/toxins that an adult cow's liver has.
Eat your vitamin with an egg. Have to have protein when you pop the vitamin.
Take iron supplements in the early am when you are up going to the bathroom and drink with oj to get max benefit from the iron (don't want to pop iron pill on full stomach--empty stomach with oj is the best).

Answer 4

If you look close enough...anything and everything you come in contact with can cause birth defects, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and death...it can make a person paranoid!

The best thing to do is just be smart when you're pregnant...you avoid the sushi, the alcohol, the cigarettes...talk to your doctor about other obvious things.

Sometimes you can go overboard worrying about everything. Our bodies are amazing and know how to protect our little one. Worry about the effects of everything will do more harm than good.

Answer 5

Where did you read this? If it were true, birth defects would be rampant in the U.S. I would get more authoritative opinions (like your doctor's) if you are worried, but personally, I think it sounds ridiculous.

Answer 6

whenever i post a question, even if its the easiest one, nobody can give me a good informed answer on this website. what happened to people that really take the time to answer..

Answer 7

You should definitely ask your pharmacist. They are really the drug experts compared to doctors.

Answer 8

Wow! thankyou! I was wondering the same question the other day

Answer 9

i would def. ask your doctor this he would know better than we would. . .good luck and i think your baby i fine.