Hi sisters
Just read up on this article....impt for us to know..
If you’re like most folks you’ve probably got at least one bottle of hand sanitizer in your handbag - and maybe a bathroom or kitchen sink filled with antibacterial soaps and detergents. Indeed, between the proliferation of new germs that seem to be swarming our earth, and the tainted foods that keep landing on our grocery store shelves it’s hard not to give in to the proliferation of new ways to stay germ free.
But if you’re a couple trying to conceive you need to pay special attention to some new concerns about one of the most common anti-bacterial ingredients around. It’s called triclosan - and it recently became the focus of a new FDA and Environmental Protection Agency
( EPA) review for safety concerns.
What kind of concerns?
According to the Environmental Working Group’s database of hazardous chemicals, studies on triclosan found links to cancer, allergies, immuno- toxicities, irritation of the skin, eyes and lungs.
But what’s most important for those of you trying to get pregnant is that triclosan is also connected to a host of developmental and reproductive toxicity issues - mainly because it is believed to be a "hormone disruptor” . These are chemicals that, once absorbed by the body begin to act much like a real hormone - including binding to hormone receptors in our body. This in turn "tricks" our system into believing the real hormone is present, and in doing so initiate a number of “false signals” that in turn cause other hormonal and chemical activities to occur.
* In one study recently conducted by researchers at the University of California at Davis, triclosan - and it’s chemical cousin triclocarban - were found to disrupt reproductive hormone activity and interfere with a type of cell signaling that occurs in the brain and other cells.
* In another study published in the journal Endocrinology, Dr. Bill Lasley a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology concluded that unlike other classic endocrine disruptors which bind to cell receptors, triclocarban actually impacts that way our natural sex hormones act. This in turn appears to depress the natural production of both estrogen and androgen ( the male sex hormone) and in the process disrupt our fertility in myriad ways.
Indeed, when a hormone disruptor messes with your reproductive hormones, it can throw your entire reproductive biochemistry into a tailspin.
* Women can experience changes in the menstrual cycle and
ovulation that are dramatic enough to delay or even prevent
conception.
* Some exposures are strong enough to cause infertility or even
miscarriage - sometimes occurring at such an early stage you
might not even know you are pregnant.
* When men are exposed, sperm count may be affected , along
with sperm motility and maturity.
In fact, researching just a little deeper we find that triclosan is actually a pesticide closely related to dioxin - a known chemical health threat, endocrine disruptor, and carcinogen. According to the FDA, triclosan “could be” and is “suspected to be “ contaminated with dioxins - a chemical known to have devastating effects on fertility.
