Antibacterial Soap - More Harm Than Good?

	The Naturally Clean Home: 100 Safe and Easy Herbal Formulas for Non-Toxic Cleansers Price: $5.98 List Price: $12.95
	Green Housekeeping Price: $4.00 List Price: $17.00
	Natural Cleaning for Your Home: 95 Pure and Simple Recipes Price: $4.98 List Price: $24.95

	Solay Simple All Natural Cleaning Products Package Price: $59.00
	Seventh Generation Natural Laundry Detergent with Non-Chlorine Bleach, Free & Clear, Powder, 112-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] Price: $42.95 List Price: $44.79

Have you been using anti-bacterial soaps and products on everything from the kids, countertops, bed and bathroom to the clothes you wear? If you are like most people, everywhere you go, someone is putting hand sanitizer on your kids hands and freaking out if they put their hands in their mouths after touching anything.

Now don't get me wrong, but I grew up in the sixties and seventies, when we were catching frogs, touching worms, drinking from hoses and then eating lunch. This might sound just down right disgusting to modern moms and dads, but nobody I grew up with died from that stuff. (not that I knew of anyway).

I am not saying that we shouldn't wash our hands. Washing is an important part of staying healthy. But on the other hand (no pun intended) being exposed to germs is the way your body builds up immunity. By using anti-bacterial soaps and cleaners on a regular basis, we might be doing more harm than good.

Using these products is making more and more germs resistant to antibiotics. Anti-bacterial products contain triclosan, which is used in hospitals to fight germs. Studies at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee have found that 90% of strains of the deadly Staphylococcus aureus were resistant to penicillin. Are we overusing these products to the point of no return? Are germs going to be so resistant that they no longer respond to antibiotics?

I don't know about you, but that would be pretty scary. We personally do not use any anti-bacterial products in our home. Never have. My family has been healthy and my kids hardly miss school. Does this prove anything? No, but I will continue to NOT use anything that could be more harmful than it is helpful.

I think if you regularly wash your hands with soap and warm water, it does a good job of keeping you germ free.

Print Share it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub

Comments

RSS for comments on this Hub

funride says:
2 years ago

I agree with you, people are getting too much antiseptic fans. I never needed it and I guess my kids won´t need it as well. But, as you have said, this doesn´t mean one should giveup washing his/her hands ;)

Sally's Trove says:
2 years ago

I am so glad to see your informative hub, and I hope it enjoys a huge audience.

My mother was a clean-freak when I was a kid and she wouldn't let me play in the dirt. She had a wonderful neighbor who told her to let me eat dirt if I wanted to, that not eating dirt would kill me sooner than eating it. Marcella told my mother that the dirtier I got, the more immunity I would build up to fight the REALLY bad things that might come along. This was a very long time ago, long before the commercial antibacterial product craze infiltrated and short-circuited our common sense.

I ate dirt, my daughter ate dirt, and we never suffered from anything deadly and we never had more than the usual colds and sniffles.

I wouldn't buy an antibacterial product if you paid me.

I was horrified the other day to see purse-sized, kid backpack-sized versions of these sprays and liquids being advertised on the TV, complete with cartoon germs invading a baby's pacifyer because the baby's mother touched it without spraying her hands first. Sickening.

Thanks for letting me vent. Great hub!

marisuewrites says:
2 years ago

2% of dirt in our food is FDA approved. YUM. lol great hub tho, I'm with you...our good germs need practice fighting off bad germs. If they get no bad germs, we get sick because we have forgotten how to fight.

Just like taking too many antibiotics....kills everything and there goes our immunity...or we over react and develop immunity to the antibiotics. I'm for soap and water.

=) Marisue

ljm63 says:
2 years ago

I appreciate all the positive comments...I'm glad to see that you guys/gals agree. I was afraid I would get negative comments, because being a mom, everywhere I go, it seems they carry the little pumps of anti-bacterial gel, fanatically pumping little hands everywhere! My daughter's hands become so raw, I have asked her teacher to stop using it on her...Like I said, we never use it in my house and we are never sick, other than the normal colds and such...thanks for the support!

Sally's Trove says:
2 years ago

I don't usually get my dander up enough to express my anger in a forum like this. But I am furious that your daughter's teacher is using an antibacterial product on your child, without your permission. Tell the teacher and the well-meaning parents of your daughter's friends that what they are doing is spraying a chemical compound on your child. If they don't stop, you will sue them.

This has gotten completely out of hand. I thought the TV ads were obnoxious, but I don't have young children in my house, so I don't know that these products are being forced upon other parents' children.

You may get negative feedback from your teacher and your daughter's parents, but you won't get it from me.

ljm63 says:
2 years ago

Thanks for your support...I just wanted to let you know, the school does ask for a permission form, but that was before I knew so much about anti-bacterial soaps and the effects it can have...once my daughter had the reaction, i asked her not to use it on her...but some other children do have the same reactions and are still using it...I think it's become a convenience, just to go around with the pumps rather than taking the time to let them use soap and water...we need to go back to basics and forget about all the chemicals...thanks, Sally's Trove