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EPA Urged to Study Public Health Risk From Antibacterial Agents Found in Soaps
The Environmental Protection Agency should study whether antibacterial agents found in soaps, deodorants, acne creams, lotions, and toothpastes pose a public health risk to people, plants, and animals, according to the wastewater treatment community.
Catherine O'Connor, research scientist for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, cautioned Oct. 5 against the increased levels of antibacterial agents, such as triclocarban (TCC) and triclosan (TCS), that are making their way into wastewater treatment plants and settling in sewage sludge, which is largely reused as farm fertilizer.
She said researchers, such as herself and others among the wastewater community, were concerned that the increased use of such chemicals might "promote" bacterial resistance to antibiotics and antibacterial soaps found in homes and the environment. O'Connor said they also were concerned about the increase in toxicity in the breakdown products of the two chemicals. At the same time, they are questioning the "lack of evidence" of public health benefits from using such chemicals.
O'Connor made her remarks during the 2006 National Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Workshop, which was held Oct. 4-6 in New Orleans.
EPA Asked to Explore 'Prudent Limitations.'
Given the uncertainty surrounding the public health benefits of these chemicals
and the growing concern over developing bacterial strains resistant to
antibiotics, the water district wrote EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson July 16,
urging the agency to "explore prudent limitations" to the manufacture and use of
these compounds.
By prudent limitations, the water district meant EPA should issue some sort of
guidance for the public to understand the lack of benefits they are receiving
from the use of these products, O'Connor and Tom Granato, the district's
assistant director for research and development, told BNA Oct. 10 in an
interview from Chicago.
More significantly, though, EPA should be looking at the "effects on
environment" and human risks to exposure, Granato said. The water district,
Granato said, is not urging EPA to issue regulations. Rather, it is urging EPA
to study the health risks from these chemicals and to determine the need for
regulations.
Given the high rate of sewage sludge reuse as fertilizer, O'Connor and others in
the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) community said they were concerned
about the health risks posed by the antibacterial agents entering sewage sludge.
In the letter to Johnson, the water district emphasized that it had invested
"millions of dollars" in developing its land application program, which manages
200,000 tons of dry biosolids, or treated sewage sludge, annually.
"Continued widespread unrestricted use of these compounds can result in
undermining of public confidence in the practice of land application of
biosolids which will be extremely costly to the nation's POTWs and may
ultimately be demonstrated to have serious impacts on environmental quality and
public health," wrote Terrence J. O'Brien, the water district's president.
O'Connor noted that more than a million pounds of TCC is produced annually and
both chemicals are used in an array of consumer products including soaps,
toothpastes, lotions, cutting boards, and toys.
Study of Triclosan Said Lacking
She cited the American Medical Association's growing concern that the use of
triclosan in consumer products has not been studied extensively "despite their
recent proliferation in consumer products."
The association also noted that "no data exist to support their efficacy when
used in such products or any need for them ... It may be prudent to avoid the
use of antimicrobial agents in consumer products ... ."
The water district's call for action is supported by the National Association of
Clean Water Agencies, which echoed the need to find out "what the impacts are"
from the use of these chemicals before getting into regulations, Susan Bruninga,
NACWA's public affairs director, told BNA Oct. 10.
"We believe in pollution prevention at the source," Bruninga said.
EPA, however, has not responded to O'Brien's letter or to BNA seeking to find
out whether EPA intends to study these two chemicals.
By Amena H. Saiyid