Antibacterial soap is the name given to any cleaning agent that comprises of antibacterial (bacteria killing) ingredients. One of the most common ingredients, found in almost all the antibacterial soaps, is Triclosan. Earlier, these soaps were mainly used in hospitals and other clinical health care environments. However, with time, their use has spread amongst household consumers too. Majority of the soaps in the markets today have antibacterial properties. Though antibacterial soaps are very effective in killing bacteria, they have been found to do more harm than good to the human body. In this article, we apprise you of the dangers of antibacterial soaps.
Dangers of Antibacterial Soaps
- Triclosan, the main ingredient used in antibacterial soaps, has been found to kill not only bacteria, but also human cells.
- Antibacterial soaps kill any and every type of bacteria and are not limited to disease-causing bacteria only. Since they kill every susceptible bacterium and remove competition from the ecosystem, they might lead to multiplication of resistant bacteria. The end result will be drug-resistant “superbugs”.
- Antibacterial soaps offer no protection against the most common germs, since they are caused by virus and not bacteria.
- Use of antibacterial soaps might do more harm than good to your baby’s immune system. This is because it has been found that for developing a baby’s immunity, it is very necessary to expose him to germs during the initial years. The children who are not exposed to common bacteria usually end up being more prone to allergies and asthma.
- Over-use of antibacterial agents has been found to be associated with environmental problems also.
- Studies have revealed that triclosan reacts with chlorinated water to produce inappropriately high levels of chloroform, which is a probable human carcinogen.
- Researches have pointed out that too much triclosan can lead to considerable disorder in the endocrine system.
