How Safe are Antibacterial Cleaners for Household Use?
Cleaning Naturally has led me to the understanding that Antibacterial Cleaners should not be used in the average household. I remember ‘hearing’ that disinfectants were not safe to use in homes but I thought it couldn’t be true if they are being sold on supermarket shelves.
Our bodies are 90% bacteria? Some bacteria are naturally beneficial to part of our body’s ecosystem, so killing them can damage our skin and immune system? That by not challenging our immune system with germs, our bodies defenses may shut down and lose the ability to respond effectively when confronted with a real invader?
So the Antibacterial Cleaners we use so often is actually a pesticide for our homes and body. Most Disinfecting products are ineffective to begin with if they are used in the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, Hospitals, Daycares, and Nursing Homes feel like they need a 100% pathogen kill rate. This could be considered the right place for use of disinfectants because it stops the risk of spreading diseases. However, our homes could be considered the wrong place because there isn’t a great threat of disease-ridden germs. Antibacterial cleaners are being overused in our homes when they should only be reserved for rare instances when they are truly necessary. If overused, they may upset the whole delicate balance of our bodies and nature.
Currently on Supermarket Shelves: 76% of Liquid Hand Soaps are Antibacterial. 29% Bar Soaps are Antibacterial. *That means that 45% of all Soaps on the Market are Antibacterial Cleaners. *This doesn’t include all of the chemical cleaners!
Manufacturers have jumped on the Disinfecting Bandwagon by responding to the public’s growing fear of germs, or are feeding the fear through cute television commercials that show innocent children in harms way of big bad germs.
Either way, it’s wrong and as consumers we need to rise above the manipulative and misleading advertising industry and navigate our path to choose through correct information from knowledgeable resources to create awareness to make better choices. Consumers have more power than the manufacturers if they are aware of the truth and know which products to choose. I bet many consumers are not aware of how many products contain disinfectants.
Antibacterial cleaners may be unintentionally creating germs that are resistant to antibiotics. Eventually, our antibiotics may not do much of anything to slow the spread of these types of germs and the diseases they cause. This is due to the widespread overuse of disinfectant products. Bacteria are clever! The more often they are exposed to these pesticides, the more likely they are to change so that the disinfectant doesn’t work.
Think about the commercial advertising disinfectant sprays that are spewed in the air where kids are playing. To prevent the spread of viruses? Viruses are usually spread from hand to mouth contact. Ironically, if you read the label on this product it says to spray it on surfaces. A misleading attempt to hook you and get you to buy a product that is essentially ineffective when common sense tells us proper hand washing is the best offense against viruses. Natural Alternatives to Antibacterial Cleaners!
Triclosan is the main active ingredient in most antibacterial cleaners. I wanted to learn more about it and here is what I learned and the reason I have abolished all disinfecting products from my home with no second thoughts. This is a Triclosan Molecule: 
Kills bacteria by affecting a certain enzyme in the cell wall. This could cause bacteria encountering triclosan to mutate into new resistant strains. Chemically related to the family of chlorinated compounds, which are known carcinogens, that includes dioxins (deadliest class of pollutants created) and chloroform. Highly reactive with chlorine. Triclosan and chlorine are both in the environment and possibly at home when mixed with chlorine based cleaners. Under certain conditions during production, dioxins can be created when triclosan is made. Batches of these products are contaminated and possibly sold to consumers. Triclosan survives conventional wastewater treatment methods. We rinse this common antibacterial into our sinks without the knowledge of knowing it enters the environment where sunlight is able to change it into dioxin. (Happens more than we think). The US Geographical Survey: tested water from 139 streams in 30 states and found triclosan contaminating 57% of the streams. Leads to algae blooms that suck oxygen out of the water and as a result kills marine life. Also causes dead zones in ocean waters. 
Largely unstudied. Believed to be a toxicant of the immune system and human sense organs. The hazards to human health and the environment are not trivial.
Environmental defense fund given chemical an Ecological risk score of 7 on a 1-10 scale. (10 hs the most potential hazard) A broad spectrum biocide that kills everything in its path. A type of phenol – has antiseptic properties – is a chemical pollutant that persists in environment and bioaccumulates in humans and animals.
I never really thought of the word ‘antibacterial’ with negative connotations. I’ve recently stopped using antibacterial cleanerss after my son’s Austin’s hands were becoming red and sore. With the onset of potty training, hand washing became a ritual – it has to be done every time he finished using the potty of course, which added up to over 10 times a day. I blamed his dry, cracking skin on the dry weather at first but noticed that his hands would flare up after washing and he would tell me they were stinging. This was about a year ago, when I first began my venture into Natural Cleaning. Low and Behold, when I looked on the soap label……triclosan was the active ingredient in the kids handsoap I bought to keep my little guys hands clean. I switched to Castile Bar Soap and his hands cleared up immediately.
Here is a similar story: My sister just had a little baby named Mason and while I was helping her put away baby gifts from her Shower I noticed baby soap. Immediately, out of habit, I turned to the label and before my eyes……..TRICLOSAN…….in BABY SOAP!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. Hence, she didn’t use it.
How to Read Labels on Household Chemical Cleaning Products
I hope I inspired you to read labels and be more aware of disinfectants and use them wisely.
|
Soap and water is just as effective as using Antibacterial Cleaners!
