Lessons learned from probing for impacts of triclosan and triclocarban on human microbiomes

Despite increasing interest in the effects of triclosan and triclocarban on human biology, current knowledge is still limited on the impact of these additives to antimicrobial personal care products on the human microbiome. A carefully designed recent study published in mSphere by Poole and colleagues [A. C. Poole et al., mSphere 1(3):e00056-15, 2016, http://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00056-15] highlights both the power of novel methodologies for microbiome elucidation and the longstanding challenge of employing small-cohort studies to inform risk assessment for chemicals of ubiquitous use in modern society.