ANTI-BACTERIAL SOAP

This is part of a featured article on Yahoo:

"5. Wash hands frequently, but avoid antibacterial products.
... Our internal bacterial system fights off invaders and thereby gets more effective at winning the battle. It’s just like working out: In order to become stronger, you must work hard in the gym. Your child’s body is a bacterial gym. Again, this comes back to the immune system. If you foster a strong immune system, your child’s body will fight off invaders and therefore become more resilient to future battles. While it is imperative to wash hands frequently during flu season, remember that the hands are only one very small way that germs enter your child’s system. Killing off the germs on hands with antibacterial products is futile and weakens your child’s- and the world’s- future ability to confront germs."

(http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/5-ways-to-protect-your-kids-and-yourself-from-the-flu-306773/)

This shows very well the misconceptions of self-acclaimed "experts" (this one claiming to be educated at Penn State).

First of all, ALL SOAP IS ANTI-BACTERIAL. What is the point of soap when it does not rid of bacteria? The tag "anti-bacterial" is merely a misleading "trademark", that makes all other soap seem to be incompetent at killing germs. Saying that using "anti-bacterial" soap is "futile" is closely similar to "eggs in white boxes are better than ones in brown boxes". Yes, it is true that "anti-bacterial" soap tend to have special ingredients added to it - but then do all non-"anti-bacterial" soap have the exact same chemicals in them? Doubtful, and so is this so-called expert's advice.

One very immediate impact of this kind of misinformation to the public is the kind of McCarthyism, or Islamic or European anti-Americanism (Kill all commies/Americans! / Don't use anti-bacterial soap!).

Another effect of this is the drop in sales of products marked "anti-bacterial". I think this is good, because companies will stop misleading people and "experts" with the label. Saying some soaps are "anti-bacterial" is just like saying some special brand of water is wet.

Wash your hands.