Triclosan
The Use of Triclosan in Personal Care Products
Triclosan is the most commonly used antibacterial ingredient in consumer products worldwide. It has a long and well-studied history in many personal care products such as toothpastes, deodorants, soaps and lotions. Triclosan’s ability to block a key bacterial enzyme is what makes it so effective, and because humans lack that enzyme, no known evidence has shown a risk to human health.
In recent years, some questions have been raised about the potential environmental impact of triclosan. And some have questioned whether its use may promote the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. While current science has not demonstrated evidence for these concerns, the issues will be studied further and are likely to be discussed for some time.
Our Position on Triclosan
Despite triclosan having a long and extensive history of safe use, we want you to have peace of mind. So we have set a goal to phase out triclosan in our beauty and baby care products. We have made significant progress in developing alternatives that will allow us to replace triclosan.
Here’s where we stand today, and where we’re heading. None of our infant or baby products worldwide contain triclosan and we are looking to eliminate it in our adult products in order to give you peace of mind. We will continue our research program to discover new alternatives because we are committed to phasing out the use of triclosan in our products altogether.
Learn More*
- Queckenberg C, Meins J, Wachall B, Doroshyenko O, Tomalik-Scharte D, Bastian B, Abdel-Tawab M, Fuhr U. “Absorption, pharmacokinetics, and safety of triclosan after dermal administration”. Department of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology Unit, University of Cologne, Gleueler Str. 24, D-50931 Cologne, Germany. 2010.
- Reiss R, Lewis G, Griffin J. “An ecological risk assessment for triclosan in the terrestrial environment”. Exponent, King Street Station, 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 300, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, USA. 2009.
* No endorsement, approval, association, or sponsorship of Our Safety & Care Commitment by the organizations listed is stated or implied.