We all like to keep things clean, and disinfectants help that happen. Unfortunately, one of the most widely used antimicrobial products in use since 1964, triclosan, is also one of the top 10 environmental contaminants in rivers – possibly disrupting the endocrine systems of wildlife and causing toxic effects to their reproduction and development. Now, a new study at the University of Nevada, Reno has found a potential way to reduce the presence of the antimicrobial that is also linked to problems with antibiotic resistance. “The results are promising that we gained better understanding about how triclosan is degraded in the natural environment, and can potentially find a way of removing the contaminant from the environment and in the long term fighting the antibiotic resistance problem,” Yu “Frank” Yang, assistant professor of environmental engineering at the University, said. Yang and his team’s research on how to reduce the presence of triclosan in the environment was recognized among Emerging Investigator Series by the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and published in the April edition as the inside front-cover story. The article describes how the triclosan, used for things like hand sanitizer, detergents, soaps and paints, can be degraded faster in the environment through a process with a combination of metal-reducing bacterium and natural organic matter. While the nation is phasing out triclosan and finding replacements for the detergents, it’s pervasive in the environment and is persistent under certain environmental conditions,…