Soap Chemical Said Found in Md. Streams

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Soap Chemical Said Found in Md. Streams

 

BALTIMORE (AP) - An anti-bacterial agent commonly

found in soaps and detergents has been found in water

from streams and wastewater treatment plants in the

Baltimore area, a Johns Hopkins researcher said

Wednesday.

 

The chemical, triclocarban, was not found in well

water or municipal drinking water, but was found in

samples from six streams as well as wastewater

treatment plants in the Baltimore area.

 

" We put out almost a million pounds of this every

year, and nobody ever bothered to take a look what

happens to the stuff once we are done with it, " said

study author Rolf U. Halden, assistant professor of

the School's Department of Environmental Health

Sciences and founding member of its Center for Water

and Health.

 

" We pick up a bar of soap, the material gets washed

down, goes to the wastewater treatment plant, and a

lot of it ends up in our surface water. "

 

Triclocarban is not one of the chemicals whose

presence in drinking water is monitored or regulated

by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but it

is being reviewed by the EPA, Halden said.

 

The chemical was found in surface water at levels up

to 20 times higher than those reported to the EPA by

the chemical industry, said Halden, who added that his

group now plans a wider study of the chemical in

surface waters nationwide. Results of the study have

been published in the online edition of Environmental

Science & Technology.

 

The researcher said his group had to develop a new

test to detect the chemical because conventional

monitoring techniques cannot detect it.

 

" Now the big question is what are the ecological and

human health consequences of triclocarban in the

environment? From the chemical structure, one would

expect the compound to concentrate in fish and

bio-accumulate in the food chain, but at this point we

can only speculate, " Halden said.

 

A Web site posted by Frederick Senese, an associate

professor of chemistry at Frostburg State University

who was not involved in the study, says triclocarban

kills bacteria by blocking an enzyme that many

bacteria and funguses need for survival.

 

The highly specific way that triclosan kills also has

researchers concerned about its role in fostering

antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, the Web site

says.

 

Halden said the researchers tested water entering and

leaving the city's three water treatment plants as

well as samples from the Jones Falls, Gwynn's Falls,

Gwynn's Run, Maiden's Choice Run, Western Run and

Stony Run.

 

Halden said it is " somewhat unsettling that we've been

using this persistent disinfectant for almost half a

century at rates approaching 1 million pounds per year

and still have essentially no idea of what exactly

happens to the compound after we flush it down the

drain. "

2004-08-19 11:58:36 GMT

 

Copyright 2004

The Associated Press