Are Anti-Bacterial Products Spreading Disease in Your House?

Everywhere you look, you are probably encountered with anti-bacterial products. Commercials on television warn you to use sprays to kill bacteria in your bathroom and kitchen. Stores are filled with anti-bacterial gels to kill germs on your hands. Even many stores now have anti-bacterial wipes to clean the handle of the shopping cart. These products are not only unnecessary, they are actually doing harm. Not only are these products causing you harm, they are ineffective. A randomized study found that in the household, anti-bacterial products were no more affective than non anti-bacterial products at preventing illness due to germs or viruses. [Columbia University and Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York]

Before we get into these anti-bacterial products, let's discuss our grandparents generations. They weren't infiltrated with the sheer volume of anti-bacterial products on the market. Were they dying from germs constantly? Were their children sicker than our children? The answer to both of those questions is no. People were not dying more and children were not getting sicker. Are the germs worse now? The answer to this question is more complicated. Anti-bacterial products have a similar problem that antibiotics do. Bacteria builds a resistance to anti-bacterial products just as they do to antibiotics. When bacteria builds a resistance, we have a problem. The medical community is then left with the problem of finding a new way to kill these bacteria that are now resistant to current products. This is a big problem in hospitals. Hospitals need to be bacteria free in surgery rooms and patient rooms where a patient has an immunity problem. So are germs worse now? No. They are the same germs, they are just resistant to products that use to kill them. These bacteria are an issue for the medical community, but they are not an issue for the average person any more than they were an issue for your grandparents. A person with a healthy immune system does not need to fear these bacteria in everyday life. A healthy immune system fights off bacteria. According to the [Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia], regular hand washing with soap is all that is needed. www.chop.edu/consumer/your_child/wellness_index.jsp Anti-bacterial agents are not needed in the home.

Did you know anti-bacterial products can make you sick? Anti-bacterial are not selective. They kill the good bacteria in our skin as well as the bad bacteria. Without the good bacteria on our skin, we are not able to fight off bad germs as well. In addition are skin is not healthy without its' needed good bacteria. Anti-bacterial products are harsh. They often damage the skin and cause small abrasions in the skin. Germs can get into these small abrasions. Normally the good bacteria that normally lives in our skin would fight these germs off. But with the anti-bacterial products having killed these good germs, our natural defense is gone. Some researchers believe that incidents of allergies, asthma and eczema are increased due to the use of anti-bacterial products. [www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no3_supp/levy.htm].

One of the largest problems caused by anti-bacterial products is a weakened immune system. With anti-bacterial products killing even common bacteria, our immune systems are not having to work. When immune systems don't have to work, them become weak. Kind of like a muscle becomes weak when it is not used. Your immune system is what protects you from getting sick. A weak immune system leaves a person vulnerable to sickness. Many babies are never getting the chance to develop strong immune systems because of anti-bacterial products. This is a big problem. Babies growing up in environments that use a lot of anti-bacterial products will most likely be sickly children due to their weak immune system. Unfortunately, parents see that their children are getting sick a lot and in an attempt to keep them healthy they will try to keep the house and child germ free by using anti-bacterial products. In reality, this fear of germs and resulting use of anti-bacterial products is what is causing the child to get sick in the first place.

News stories and product manufacturers are good at scaring us about new super germs that are out to get us. This is not reality though. We are not facing new germs. We are facing resistant germs. Germs that are resistant to anti-bacterial agents. Germs that a healthy immune system should easily be able to fight off. A good deal of the medical community is against the use of household anti-bacterial products and for good reason. They are harming us. Stop using them. Stop weakening your immune system. Allow your immune system to be strong and fight off germs like it was meant to.