Anti-bacterial Nope

Once every generation, there comes a time when I finish up a bottle of dish detergent and have to buy a new one. Yesterday was this generation's time.

It's a task I didn't really give much thought to. I added dish detergent to my grocery list on my phone, and when I was at Save On I casually strolled down the isle thinking I could just grab a bottle and go. I spotted one that was citrus flavoured and reached for it, but then realized it was anti-bacterial.

This is actually a bit of a problem. And by "a bit", I mean a serious one. Short version: anti-bacterial soap both damages the environment and yet is completely unnecessary.

The Fiction

The fiction that soap manufactures are catering to is something like this: bacteria can cause illness, so by using anti-bacterial soap you are protecting yourself and loved ones from disease.

The truth is more like this: if you wash the bacteria off your hands, they can't hurt you anyway, plus you're over-sanitizing your environment which can actually reduce the efficiency of your immune system in the long run, making you and your loved ones more vulnerable.

Now, I once saw a George Carlin stand-up where he advocated swimming through sewage to strengthen your immune system, which, as you might guess, isn't a good idea either, as described by Paul Ewald describes in the following TED Talk:



As usual, nature forces us to take a balanced path rather than zealously pursuing one extreme or another. Practice cleanliness, but don't sterilize your environment. Get exposure to germs, but take precautions against deadly diseases.

Reinforcing Misconceptions

Recently, my dad sent me an article on how misinformed people are often very confident in their misinformed belief. I suspect that these mechanisms are at work with anti-bacterial soap. Given how harmful it is, and how popular it is, and how there is virtual no discussion about this problem, we as a culture have managed to become extremely confident in our fiction.

And that's why I have a picture of Palmolive at the top of this blog, focusing on the tagline: "Washes Away Bacteria from Hands". In other words, it's soap. It doesn't have damaging chemical agents that are unnecessary. And their marketing department managed to phrase it in a way that may actually let them sell to a misinformed public.

There are of course exceptions to all this. People with compromised immune systems may need to take extra precautions. But the general buying public should be avoiding the anti-bacterial soap.

So it's a small thing, choosing a soap. But sometimes small things can still be important things.