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antimicrobial soaps and body washes: no better than soap and water for household use | The Old Farmer's Almanac

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Still Using Antimicrobial (Antibacterial) Soaps?

Margaret Boyles
October 4, 2014
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It seems like a good idea: “antimicrobial” soap!

There's also antimicrobial body wash, toothpaste, and household cleaning products that promise to kill all manner of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms, a few of which cause human illnesses.

Americans are exposed to 2.2 million pounds of antimicrobial agents in soaps and body washes each year. Yet there’s no scientific evidence that outside of healthcare settings antimicrobial products offer any more protection against disease than ordinary soap and water.

What’s worse, studies suggest that the antimicrobial chemicals in these products may themselves cause harm to humans, animals, and the environment.

Although studies have not yet confirmed this conclusively, antimicrobial personal-care products may even boost antibiotic resistance, a threat the World Health Organization calls “so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine. A post-antibiotic era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—is a very real possibility for the 21st century.”

Last year the federal Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule change that would require all consumer antiseptic soaps and body washes containing antimicrobal ingredients to develop data that support the safety of antimicrobial agents and demonstrate a clinical benefit from their use in consumer wash products compared with plain soap and water.

Minnesota has already banned products containing the common antibacterial triclosan, present in more than 2,000 personal-care and household products. Public health officials there recommend using non-antimicrobial liquid soaps, stating that bar soaps can harbor germs.

Maybe it’s time to print Minnesota’s hand-washing poster and hang it in a prominent location in your home and office.

Photo credit: jar () Wash Your Hands. Some rights reserved. 

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Comments

judyblackwell (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

I agree to this article that most of the antibacterial synthetic products can have harmful effects on skin and body so it's better to prefer to some natural antibiotics that can naturally kills germs and bacteria from our body. I have been searching about natural substances which play as antibiotics where I got to know about manuka honey ,which is really effective for killing germs and bacteria. You may check this on www.comvita.com/ingredients/about-manukahoney.html

Lavonda (not verified)

8 years 5 months ago

Sprinkle table salt on floors wait a few hours then vacuum/sweep up. The salt kills adult fleas and the eggs.

Susan W (not verified)

8 years 5 months ago

Any suggestions for ridding your house of fleas? I have treated our animals, cleaned and vacuumed and sprayed, yet I still get bit and have a horrible itching that won't stop.

Oh, I sympathize! When we had dogs and cats, I always suffered terribly with flea bites during the summer.

You'll find many products available to treat your animals directly, some applied to the skin, others taken by mouth or injection. Some kill adult fleas when they bite the animal, others interfere with the growth of flea larvae.

Some products control ticks as well, a big concern in areas where tick-borne diseases have become a concern for both human and animal health.

Most of these commercial products carry warnings of toxicity to animals or people or both.

My suggestion: Talk with your vet about flea controls, and ask lots of questions about product safety and mininmizing risk to you, your family, and your animals.

 

 

I read that adding a little apple cider vinegar to your pet's water solves the flea problem.