FROM THE BENCH
Measuring Human Exposures
to Triclosan and Parabens
by Jed Waldman, PhD, laboratory manager, California Department of Public Health Environmental
Health Laboratory; Qi Gavin, MS, research scientist, California Department of Public Health
Environmental Health Laboratory and Jianwen She, PhD, section chief, California Department
of Public Health Environmental Health Laboratory
The California Environmental
Contaminant Biomonitoring Program
(Biomonitoring California) conducts
studies to measure chemical levels in
the state’s population and track those
exposures over time. Antimicrobial
agents have been included in many
of these studies. Triclosan (TCS) was
previously widely used in “antibacterial”
or “antimicrobial” liquid soaps and body
washes until this use was banned by
the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in
2016. But TCS is still used in healthcare
antiseptics, in some toothpaste and
cosmetics. It can also be added to
household products like cutting boards,
toys and garden hoses. Parabens are
antimicrobial compounds also widely
used as preservatives in cosmetics and
pharmaceutical products, and to prolong
the shelf life of various foods. There is
evidence that TCS and parabens can affect
the endocrine system even at low levels.
These compounds are primarily excreted
in urine as conjugates formed with
glucuronic acids or sulfates. To monitor
exposures in urine, our laboratory
uses a method that deconjugates then
measures the parent compounds for six
phenolic compounds (including TCS)
and four parabens by high-pressure
liquid chromatography (HPLC) tandem
mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Urinary
measurements provide a sensitive
assessment of chemical exposures in
human subjects, with limits of detection
of 0.2 to 0.5 ng/ml (or part per billion, ppb).
TCS and parabens—particularly methyl
paraben (MPB)—have been detected
frequently by Biomonitoring California
in studies of various groups, including
pregnant women, firefighters and adults
in the Central Valley. In the Health and
16
LAB MATTERS Summer 2019
Environmental Research in Make-up of
Salinas Adolescents (HERMOSA) Study led
by the University of California at Berkeley,
a cohort of 100 Latina teens restricted
their use of products containing certain
endocrine-disrupting compounds for
three days. Our laboratory analyzed urine
samples collected before and after this
intervention. Urinary concentrations were
reduced by 36% for TCS and 44% for MPB
following the intervention. These results
showed how consumer choices could
significantly affect the levels in human
subjects for some compounds of concern.
In a repeat of the HERMOSA design, a
Good Morning America reporter used only
low-paraben cosmetics for four days; the
laboratory found that her urinary MPB
level had dropped by more than twenty-
fold after this intervention.
It is difficult to compare results across
Biomonitoring California studies because
of differences in demographics and
the relatively small numbers of study
participants. However, it is notable that
the levels of TCS measured in urine
samples collected from adult women in
the California Regional Exposure Study
in Los Angeles County in 2018 after the
FDA ban were much lower than the levels
found in adult participants of earlier
Biomonitoring California studies, as well
as levels measured in the 2013-14 cycle
of the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES). Our
most recent study of adults in northern
California (urine samples collected in
2018) also measured comparably lower
TCS levels. This is one example of the
power of biomonitoring surveillance
to demonstrate the effectiveness of
regulatory efforts and consumer choices
to reduce chemical exposures. n
References
ABC, 2016. Chemical Regulations: What
Is Really in Your Makeup? Good Morning
America (December 8, 2016) reported by
Serena Marshal. https://abcnews.go.com/
Lifestyle/chemical-regulations-makeup/
story?id=44033705
Biomonitoring California, 2018. Triclosan
Fact Sheet. Available https://biomonitoring.
ca.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/
TriclosanFactSheet.pdf
Biomonitoring California, 2019. Biomonitoring
California Projects. https://biomonitoring.ca.gov/
projects
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
2019. Fourth Report on Human Exposure to
Environmental Chemicals, Updated Tables,
(January 2019). Atlanta, GA: US Department of
Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.
gov/exposurereport/
Federal Register, 2016. Safety and Effectiveness
of Consumer Antiseptics; Topical Antimicrobial
Drug Products for Over-the-Counter Human Use.
A rule by the Food and Drug Administration,
9/6/2016. https://www.federalregister.gov/
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topical-antimicrobial-drug-products-for
Food and Drug Administration, 2019.
Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use
Plain Soap and Water. https://www.fda.gov/
consumers/consumer-updates/antibacterial-
soap-you-can-skip-it-use-plain-soap-and-water
Gavin QM, Ramage RT, Waldman JM, She
J, 2013. Development of HPLC-MS/MS
method for the simultaneous determination of
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Harley KG et al. 2016. Reducing Phthalate,
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