FDA Finally Warns Against Use of Antibacterial Soaps

The Federal and Drug Administration, after years of research and petitions from scientists, have finally issued a warning on antibacterial soaps as “ineffective” and may alter hormonal levels while producing antibacterial resistant bacteria. Colleen Rogers of the FDA states that “the risk associated with daily use of antibacterial soaps may outweigh the benefits.”

Therefore the FDA has proposed new rules requiring manufacturers to provide more safety data, and in the meantime their warning will remain in place. The makers of antibacterial soaps have until 2016 to provide adequate data and if they cannot comply the products are to be “reformulated or removed from the market” . The new warning does not include alcohol based hand sanitizers (like Purell) or products used in the healthcare settings as well as just plain or regular soap (I use Burts Bees Mens Soap).

I’ve discuss the additives in antibacterial soaps and the health implications of their use at length,  showing research that links them to psychiatric illnesses, diabetes and a multitude of diseases. I’m unsure how the FDA officials have allowed these additives to gain a major foothold in our lives.  In their statement they are clearly announcing that they did not do an adequate job in regulating products that could potentially damage our health.

In essence the FDA is stating that they need safety data or else they are going to pull the products.. Wait, shouldn’t it be the other way around, that the products aren’t allows for to be marketing until adequate safety data has been provided? The FDA has their ideals very backwards in my opinion.

Since I wash my hands almost 100 times a day, I am always trying new products that reduce bacterial/viral loads, don’t produce antibacterial resistance as well as not killing my hands leaving them raw and dry.

Alcohol based sanitizers are good (like Purell), but they are detrimental to my hands so I use Avagard D with moisturizers at my office. It’s a surgical base scrub (surgeons use it to sanitize their hands before operating) with a moisturizer included. It can be found at Amazon for pretty cheap.

Either way, get rid of all those antibacterial soaps and hand washes and replace them with more healthy, regular soap bars/washes or an alcohol based hand sanitizer.