The Colgate Total ingredient that is now making headlines is, as the internet is now filled with the news that the people’s day-to-day toothpaste brand contains a harmful ingredient known to lead to less fertility, developmental problems, as well as cancer.

With different health issues associated with the ingredient manifest mostly on animal test subjects, health professionals are still wondering how the compound could affect humans.

In a press release, makers of Colgate Total insist that the product is perfectly safe. They also added that the toothpaste brand helps against gum disease.

“Colgate Total toothpaste is uniquely formulated with 0.3% of the antibacterial ingredient triclosan to fight harmful plaque germs, which are the cause of most common dental problems,” Colgate-Palmolive explains the decision to use triclosan in making toothpaste.

“Colgate Total is the only toothpaste that is both approved by the FDA and accepted by the American Dental Association as safe and effective. Its safety and effectiveness is supported by more than 80 scientific studies, involving 19,000 people,” it adds.

What’s very interesting here is that the FDA (the Food and Drugs Administration in the US) says that, even though it cantains triclosan, this toothpaste is safe. However, late last year, the Administration itself started looking into the health risks linked to triclosan in soaps.

As it turns out, the FDA gave the green light to the making and marketing of Colgate Total based on company-backed science. Thus, a report published not too long ago following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit indicates that, although the FDA had it doubts, the company convinced it that the toothpaste contained far too little triclosan to constitute a threat to public health.

Although the effects of triclosan was only proven to affect lab animals so far, it's important to note that companies like Avon and Johnson & Johnson are already taking steps towards phasing it out from their line of products. Apparently, Colgate-Palmolive still doesn’t want to change the formulation of its now very controversial toothpaste.