Could ingredients such as antimicrobials in your personal care products be predisposing you and your children to autoimmune diseases and allergies? The FDA does not assess the safety of personal care products. Until recently, studies have not been conducted to determine the results of using hand soaps, deodorants, dishwashing detergents, toothpaste and other personal care products that contain anti-microbials.
A recent study commissioned by the European Union at the University of Helsinki has allocated six million euros to compare two life styles and how they affect the prevalence of autoimmune disease and allergies. The research project will run for the years 2008 to 2013 and determine whether the decrease in infection load is connected to type 1 diabetes and the emergence of allergies. The study will compare 7000 children from Finland, Estonia and northwestern Russia. More than 300 children from each area will be followed from birth to their third birthday and another 2000 children from their third to fifth birthdays.
Genetics has been ruled out as a cause for the difference in the rise in autoimmune disorders and allergies in Finland versus Russia. The study will try to establish if it is the high standard of hygiene affecting the internal environment and the composition of the bacterial flora in the body that is making the difference between the two countries.
Since the 1980s, due to the emergence of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), antimicrobials have been added to many of our personal care products. Twenty years later we are aware of strains of bacteria that cannot be treated with any known antibiotics. These strains of bacteria such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are increasing and causing deaths throughout the U.S.A. Also on the rise, are chronic illness, allergies, fibromyalgia and other serious autoimmune diseases.
Have we gone too far with the hygiene mania to prevent disease to an extent that we are weakening our immune system and actually causing disease? It is very important, of course, to maintain proper cleanliness for the whole body. But do we need to absorb a daily dose of antimicrobials through our personal care products? The antimicrobials we are absorbing through our skin and under the tongue (toothpaste, mouthwash) on a daily bases could very well be over kill, weakening our immune system. It is important to become educated as consumers, on which ingredients are safe and which are problematic.
It is common sense that physicians would not prescribe a dose of daily penicillin just in case you get an infection, that we should not use personal care products on a daily bases with antimicrobials to prevent infections. Unfortunately, the antimicrobials come in a variety of unrecognized chemical names to the unsuspecting consumer.