Forty years ago, the FDA was charged with determining if “triclosan,” the antibacterial chemical found in everything from household cleaners and dish soaps to hand sanitizer and mouthwash, is actually dangerous. According to this report, “Then, last summer, the FDA said its review of triclosan would be complete by late 2012. That target date then slipped to February, which has also come and gone.”
Now, just four decades after they put it on their “to-do list,” the FDA is finally going to see if the chemical we rub only over our bodies, wipe around our homes and swish around in our mouths is actually doing far more harm than good. A few years ago, they did a “draft” of their report and found it was “not generally recognized as safe and effective.” But you know how things go, you get busy, things come up, before you know it it’s the holidays, and sometimes you just don’t get to finishing that report about the public safety threat of a chemical used by millions of people every single day. Life happens. Don’t worry, they say they’ll finally have this thing wrapped up soon …