Triclosan: An Instructive Tale

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a final rule to ban triclosan and 18 other antimicrobial chemicals from soaps. The authors applaud this rule specifically because of the associated risks that triclosan poses to the spread of antibiotic resistance throughout the environment. This persistent chemical will apply constant stress to bacteria to adapt, and behaviour that promotes antibiotic resistance needs to be stopped immediately when the benefits are null.

Authors: McNamara PJ, Levy SB. ;Full Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2016 Oct 10. pii: AAC.02105-16. [Epub ahead of print] ;