When environmentalists don’t have the political power to
regulate away consumer choice, they sometimes can get industry to do the job
for them. Most recently, Proctor and Gamble (P&G) has
decided to phase out the chemical triclosan, which has been used in a wide
range of soap products to reduce risks from bacteria. P&G’s announcement
follows other dumb triclosan phase outs that Colgate Palmolive (2011) and
Johnson and Johnson (2012) have already begun.
Interestingly, Colgate is removing triclosan from some
products, such as face washes, but keeps it in toothpaste because of its valuable
public health properties! They claim to be eliminating other uses because
they are not as proven effective. It may
be true that tricolsan isn’t perfect for every product in every application,
but the irrational
fears generated by the hype lead industry to go overboard and fail to
defend their products. They don’t understand that you can’t appease
environmentalists, who take an “all-or-nothing” approach, with heavy emphasis
on the nothing. The activists will push for complete elimination,
without much consideration of the consequences.…..To Read More…
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