For months and months now I have been stressing my opposition to antibarterial gels and soaps. I have been opposing them on the belief that they do more harm than good, killing bad as well as good bacteria that lives on our hands and skin. And yes, killing the bad bacteria is a good thing, but on the other hand, killing the good barteria is a very bad thing. The truth is that we need bacteria!! Good bacteria makes us healthy. This is especially true for children. I am 100% behind washing your hands on a regular basis with soap and water, as we have all seen time and time again on the news, this is highly recommended by all health professionals. What I am very glad to see now is health professionals coming out and expressing my same beliefs, that anti-bacterial soaps and gels are actually more detrimental than beneficial. Tonight the CBC aired a segment dedicated to this with health professionals warning people against using these antibacterial soaps and gels. They went further to highlight a certain ingredient, the key ingredient, as especially detrimental to your health. Not only are these gels and soaps destroying good bacteria they are creating stronger bacteria, bacteria that is learning to resist these chemicals. I regret that I do not have the knowledge to post details of this ingredient or greater specifics. But it is my opinion that if you are one of these people who keeps a bottle of antibacterial gel on you wherever you go (and you know who you are) you owe it to yourself to investigate this further yourself. Below are a few links that can start your research...http://www.cbc.ca/health/ There is a featurette here called 'hygiene overkill'
Vancouver Sun Story on Antibacterial Soaps
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