Triclocarban has been banned by the FDA from use in soaps because of concerns about its safety and efficacy, but it still remains in other items. High concentrations of triclocarban can be found within treated water and treated wastewater which is sometimes used to irrigate crops. Impacts of triclocarban on human health is unclear, but it acts as an endocrine disruptor.
Getting a better understanding of the risks of environmental triclocarban exposure, uncertainty of how much gets absorbed into plants, and how plants metabolize the substance is an obstacle that must be overcome. To investigate the matter researchers undertook this study using jalapeno peppers to try and address some of the knowledge gap.
Researchers labeled TTC with radioactive carbon in order to track the antibiotic journey from water to the pepper. The jalapeno pepper plants were grown hydroponically. After 12 weeks researchers sampled C14 contents within the stems, roots, fruit, and leaves. Low levels of triclocarban were found contained within the pepper fruit itself, but it also had heavy portions of C14 in molecules within that had started out as triclocarban which the plant had converted into other molecules.
These findings according to researchers indicate the plant was metabolizing the antibiotic. These converted metabolites need to be taken into account to fully assess the safety of triclocarban consumption health impacts, which requires further investigation.
