The evils of antibacterial hand soap
On my shopping trip last week I purchased antibacterial hand soap.
Before I go any further you need to understand that for me, saying "I purchased antibacterial hand soap" is nearly synonymous with saying, "I drank the Kool-Aid."
The basic premise of my belief is that we do not need antibacterial, antimicrobial, or antifungal agents in our hand soap. Our bodies are literally covered with millions of living nasties at all times, and we are naturally equipped to deal with the situation. There are times when it is appropriate to be super-clean, such as when visiting someone who is sick, or when performing surgery. But consider the gratuitous amount of hand washing people do these days: after using the bathroom, before eating, after touching food, after touching dogs, after touching doorknobs, after touching anything that isn't the inside of a white glove. Remember when we were kids and we'd spend an entire day at the amusement park, hanging on railings and touching picnic benches, with maybe one or two trips to the restroom to (maybe) clean up? That's a pretty damn disgusting situation. And we were fine. All the hand washing we now do as adults, with or without antibacterial soap: that's enough. Really, it is.
The danger, in case you have been in a coma for several years and are unaware, is that the wanton use of antibacterial soaps and the over-prescribing of antibiotics is creating "superbugs." That is, germs that are resistant to antibiotics. This is why I am against antibacterial hand soaps. Not only do I believe them to be unnecessary (we're clean enough), but dangerous.
And there is a plethora of scientific data to back me up on this, and I'll link to just three articles:
CDC Foundation: Superbugs
Should antibacterial soap be outlawed?
And most recently: Scientists find host of antibiotic-eating germs
So. Why did I purchase antibacterial hand soap?
I was weak. I needed a new bottle of hand soap for my kitchen. So as I browsed the shelf of pump-soap, my eyes locked onto a bottle that said "Kitchen" on it, that had new, recently-modified packaging, that was a pleasing yellowish orange color with bubbles, and that was all-around pretty. I eventually noticed that the label said "antibacterial" but decided in my mind, without checking the back label, that it is probably an alcohol-based "antibacterial" agent that does not lead to antibacterial-resistant germs. (More on that later.)
A few days later I finally bothered to read the back of the bottle and learned that the antibacterial agent is Triclosan, which is an antibacterial and antifungal. Damnit. I was roped in by the pretty packaging. I usually think of myself as more marketing-resistant than the average person, so this hand soap must have gotten me at a moment of weakness. Or maybe I'm just the same as the average fool after all.
I should expound on the issue I touched on above: alcohol-based hand sanitizers are A-OK. I'm not sure if there are alcohol-based hand soaps available, but the alcohol-based hand sanitizers that you don't rinse off are really, really good. Here is an excerpt from one of my linked articles that explains why they don't come with the danger of creating superbugs:
Why haven't bacteria adapted to the agents found in bleach, alcohol and lemon juice? The reason why bacteria aren't resistant to these agents is because they do not leave a residue. There is no chance for surviving bacteria to adapt within the residual environment, so bacteria are just as susceptible to bleach and alcohol as they were 100 years ago. Skip the antimicrobial smart bomb and go for the big bleach blockbuster.
Studies have also shown that alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill much, much more bacteria than antibacterial soap. See here: Coming Clean: Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer vs. Antibacterial Soap, Which Cleans Best?
All the hand washing is really OK. There are good reasons to keep your hands clean, the most important one being to reduce the spread of germs. And I understand that our society in the United States likes to be clean. We like to look, smell, and feel clean, and when we're at work all day the only thing we can really do to keep the dirt at bay is to wash our hands. It's part of who we are, and I wouldn't want to change that.
So please do keep on washing your hands. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers if you wish. But please lay off the antibacterial agents.
Before I go any further you need to understand that for me, saying "I purchased antibacterial hand soap" is nearly synonymous with saying, "I drank the Kool-Aid."
The basic premise of my belief is that we do not need antibacterial, antimicrobial, or antifungal agents in our hand soap. Our bodies are literally covered with millions of living nasties at all times, and we are naturally equipped to deal with the situation. There are times when it is appropriate to be super-clean, such as when visiting someone who is sick, or when performing surgery. But consider the gratuitous amount of hand washing people do these days: after using the bathroom, before eating, after touching food, after touching dogs, after touching doorknobs, after touching anything that isn't the inside of a white glove. Remember when we were kids and we'd spend an entire day at the amusement park, hanging on railings and touching picnic benches, with maybe one or two trips to the restroom to (maybe) clean up? That's a pretty damn disgusting situation. And we were fine. All the hand washing we now do as adults, with or without antibacterial soap: that's enough. Really, it is.
The danger, in case you have been in a coma for several years and are unaware, is that the wanton use of antibacterial soaps and the over-prescribing of antibiotics is creating "superbugs." That is, germs that are resistant to antibiotics. This is why I am against antibacterial hand soaps. Not only do I believe them to be unnecessary (we're clean enough), but dangerous.
And there is a plethora of scientific data to back me up on this, and I'll link to just three articles:
CDC Foundation: Superbugs
Should antibacterial soap be outlawed?
And most recently: Scientists find host of antibiotic-eating germs
So. Why did I purchase antibacterial hand soap?
I was weak. I needed a new bottle of hand soap for my kitchen. So as I browsed the shelf of pump-soap, my eyes locked onto a bottle that said "Kitchen" on it, that had new, recently-modified packaging, that was a pleasing yellowish orange color with bubbles, and that was all-around pretty. I eventually noticed that the label said "antibacterial" but decided in my mind, without checking the back label, that it is probably an alcohol-based "antibacterial" agent that does not lead to antibacterial-resistant germs. (More on that later.)
A few days later I finally bothered to read the back of the bottle and learned that the antibacterial agent is Triclosan, which is an antibacterial and antifungal. Damnit. I was roped in by the pretty packaging. I usually think of myself as more marketing-resistant than the average person, so this hand soap must have gotten me at a moment of weakness. Or maybe I'm just the same as the average fool after all.
I should expound on the issue I touched on above: alcohol-based hand sanitizers are A-OK. I'm not sure if there are alcohol-based hand soaps available, but the alcohol-based hand sanitizers that you don't rinse off are really, really good. Here is an excerpt from one of my linked articles that explains why they don't come with the danger of creating superbugs:
Why haven't bacteria adapted to the agents found in bleach, alcohol and lemon juice? The reason why bacteria aren't resistant to these agents is because they do not leave a residue. There is no chance for surviving bacteria to adapt within the residual environment, so bacteria are just as susceptible to bleach and alcohol as they were 100 years ago. Skip the antimicrobial smart bomb and go for the big bleach blockbuster.
Studies have also shown that alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill much, much more bacteria than antibacterial soap. See here: Coming Clean: Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer vs. Antibacterial Soap, Which Cleans Best?
All the hand washing is really OK. There are good reasons to keep your hands clean, the most important one being to reduce the spread of germs. And I understand that our society in the United States likes to be clean. We like to look, smell, and feel clean, and when we're at work all day the only thing we can really do to keep the dirt at bay is to wash our hands. It's part of who we are, and I wouldn't want to change that.
So please do keep on washing your hands. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers if you wish. But please lay off the antibacterial agents.
posted by Jen S. at
6:47 PM
3 Comments:
Your observations re: triclosan-based products are spot on--keep away from them. As far as hand sanitizing products--you'd be much better off using alcohol-free products--the ones containing benzalkonium chloride (e.g. Soapopular brand) are certainly as effective i.e. killing germs/bacteria/viruses in seconds--but the BAC-based products have extended persistency, do NOT cause dry/irritated skin, CAN be applied to dirty hands and still be effective, ARE NOT flammable, and DO NOT kill important skin cells.
By
Berky, At
June 1, 2008 12:53 PM
I'm in a college biology class, and we are doing an experiment comparing the bacteria-killing effects of antibacterial soap, regular soap, hand sanitizer, and just a water rinse. my lab report is going to talk about the harmful effects of antibacterial soap, so i just wanted to thank you for your post. quite helpful.
By
tess, At
September 22, 2008 12:05 PM
You're welcome! Thanks to both berky and tess for your comments.
I'm not an expert (I earned my biology degree about 13 years ago, but work as a web developer!), but it seems obvious to me that many people are silly with the antibacterial soaps. (And overuse of antibiotic medicine, too.) Hopefully in time, this info will become more ubiquitous.
By
Jen S., At
September 22, 2008 12:13 PM
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