Posted by
Donald Parker on March 20, 2000 at 20:28:13:
Today there are many different types of so called soaps and hand cleaners that have "antibacterial" written on them. I urge you not to use these for your children or yourself. Not only are these cleaners not very effective, the will cause major problems in the future. All over the skin, not just hands, grows bacteria, mainly staph. These bacteria should grow there and are called flora, meaning normal bacteria. Washing with antibacterial soap will kill some of the normal flora, which can be very bad for the future. Because the bacteria that is not killed by the soaps will eventually mutate or adapt to the antibacterial soaps. So what does this have to do with you? Well mutated bacteria can become resistant to commonly used antibiotics, which will mean the medicine we have for bacteria infections today will not work 10 years in the future. That can mean a race of "super" bacteria that will require a whole new type of medicine to get rid of. That is a very scary thought. Manufacters of these cleaners do not care about 10 years or even 20 years in the future, when "super" bacteria will be harder to get rid of with the medicine we currently have. So I urge you, if not for yourself, do it for your children and their children stop using "antibacterial" cleansers. Regular soap works just fine.
