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© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
A few years ago, I was delighted to find anti-bacterial soap on my supermarket shelves. "About time," I thought, "We should have been killing bacteria all along, instead of just washing some of them away." Those thoughts make sense, don't they. But it would seem that they are wrong, dangerously wrong. The medical community has slowly begun to realize that they are breeding super diseases, from the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. We laypeople are contributing to the problem. Here is an example:
Many years ago, I had an itch on my leg. I foolishly scratched it, off and on, for a long time. It got worse. My doctor diagnosed a fungus, and prescribed an anti-fungal cream. This cream is apparently mild stuff for humankind, but is curtains for fungi. Why would they make it a prescription drug? Well, there were warnings in the enclosed literature, and from my doctor. I was instructed to keep using the cream for the full time (I forget how long), even after the rash had cleared up. Why? Because, if I quit using the cream prematurely, and the rash came back, these new fungi would be partly resistant to the cream. I would have successfully bred super fungi, resistant to the anti-fungal cream. And how do you clear up that kind of rash? It is actually frightening.
Well, apparently we are breeding super bacteria, by using anti-bacterial soap, and anti-bacterial body wash. And the best solution is to return to cleaning with normal soap, detergents (shampoos), and oils.
Back in the olden days, they made soap from lye and ashes. Kind of disgusting stuff to rub on your bodies? Well, the soap of today is largely the same stuff. They may not use raw lye, but they do use fat. They don't use ashes, but they do use an alkali. Soap breaks up grease and oil, making it easier to wash away, taking the dirt with it. Soap is the original detergent. Modern synthetic detergents are used because soap leaves a white film (and may not clean as well) when used in hard water (water with calcium, magnesium, and/or iron in it). Bars that look like soap, but say "deodorant bar" or "beauty bar," are actually synthetic detergents. Some of these do not dry the skin as much as soap does.
I received email about this. Apparently at least some antibacterial soap contains a chemical that destroys bacteria. They cannot develop an immunity to it, just as humans cannot develop an immunity to bullets. I will try to do more research.
The soaps that say "antibacterial" apparently have an anti-biotic mixed into the soap. This would seem to promote the breeding of bacteria immuned to anti-biotics.