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Is Microban In School Supplies Safe?
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Boy, has the use of Microban technologies in school supplies proliferated this year! If you aren’t aware, Microban is a broad range of antimicrobial technologies that are designed to protect products from microbes. Microban technologies do not protect the user of the product from disease causing microorganisms (if Microban International was making such claims, it would be subject to certain regulatory requirements and would have to have proof to support the claims). Microban technologies are built into the product during the manufacturing process.
What is actually used in the particular Microban technology in a particular product is difficult to discern. It is generally understood that Microban in plastic includes triclosan, a chemical many of us are trying to avoid. But you don’t know for sure. Microban has many different technologies it is using now, including zinc and silver technologies, so the average consumer can’t really tell what formulation is being used in any particular product.
But what is being used begs the question. Why exactly do we need Microban technologies in our binders and other school supplies? It seems like a completely unnecessary use of a chemical. If I need disease prevention, then I should be wiping down the binder and encouraging my children to wash their hands. The Microban technology added to it isn’t going to protect my child from disease – good old handwashing with warm water and soap will do that.
So why the heck are we seeing Microban technologies added to so many products? Because we seem to have a fear of microbes. A completely unnatural fear of microbes. And we think the solution is some antibacterial germ killing chemical, when all we really need to do is wash our hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds, rubbing vigorously. That’s it. And it doesn’t take antibacterial soap or antibacterial products.
So how about for back to school we skip the Microban technologies and send our kids to school with some castile liquid soap?
Editor’s note: This was originally posted at TheSmartMama.com and is part of the Green Moms Carnival on Back to School. Be sure to go check out the round up post at Mindful Momma with lots of ideas on going back to school – in green style.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthy Child Healthy World.
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Posted by Barbara Strobel on 08/24/2011 at 04:03 AM
I think there is some confusion about what Microban is and isn’t. If you asked someone randomly what they thought it was they’d probably say something like “It makes things germ resistant”. (I asked 3 random people the question “What do you think Microban does?” and all three people told me the same thing: That it helps protect us from germs.) Considering it’s used in a lot of kitchen and childrens products you might even assume it helps stop the spread of germs therefore protecting you from getting sick.