The governor of Minnesota has declared that any products sold in the state must be free of the chemical known as triclosan.

Governor Mark Dayton signed a measure banning the antibacterial chemical triclosan from products that are sold in the state.

Triclosan is found in tons of personal care products, from body wash to dish soap to toothpaste to acne medication. There are 2,000 products that contain triclosan, and more are on the way.

So what’s so bad about triclosan?

Some studies have shown that triclosan causes hormone imbalances in animals.

What could it be doing to us? Also, there’s a very real worry that triclosan-laced antibacterial soap will assist the rise of deadly antibiotic-resisting superbugs.

“In order to prevent the spread of infectious disease and avoidable infections and to promote best practices in sanitation, no person shall offer for retail sale in Minnesota any cleaning product that contains triclosan and is used by consumers for sanitizing or hand and body cleansing,” the law states.

Megacompanies like Colgate-Palmolive, DuPont and Dow are trying to lobbyist their way out of this ban, claiming that states shouldn’t be able to enact bans like this – only on the federal level.

The law is set to go into effect in 2017.

