I recently noticed that Exo, a popular dish-washing soap from India, is being marketed as "Anti-bacterial". In the old days - say, 10 years ago - the purpose of soap was to remove greasy dirt, not to disinfect. That was left for hospital operating rooms. However, riding on a global wave of germophobia, more and more manufacturers are adding anti-bacterial chemicals to household products, from toothpastes to dish-washing liquids. Researchers found out that it doesn't increase the effectiveness of the soap. However, it helps to sell more! The most popular chemical used for that purpose in the U.S. is
Triclosan,
which is raising many health and environmental safety concerns,
some of them quite serious.
Back to the Indian subcontinent: The Exo soap claims to use an additive called Cyclozan. Thanks to our good friend Google, I found out that Triclosan and Cyclozan are one and the same. Given the long list of
health and other concerns associated with this chemical, I think it would be wise to look for a different dishwashing soap.
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