If the environmental whackos hadn’t screwed up decent hand washing with running water with their mustn’t “waste” water, “no new dams”, “use less” bullshit then yes, antimicrobial handwashes would be a complete waste of time and money. 2 minutes washing under running water with or without soap is about as clean as you’ll get even the grubbiest little mitts. I’m not convinced triclosan poses any risk whatsoever but if you’re really worried and can’t bear to upset the greenie meanies by using a decent amount of water then use an alcohol wash (it’s better than putting it in your gas tank, too 
) In any case it’s not worth getting in a lather over
Should you be washing your hands or bathing your children with antibacterial soap?
The University of Texas student government and Canadian leaders say no. Many environmentalists and scientists agree.
The concern is triclosan, an antibacterial chemical used for more than 30 years in soaps, toothpastes, lotions and deodorant and marketed as a germ killer. But antibacterial soap does not work any better than regular soap, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other studies.
And there are growing concerns about the effect triclosan has on humans and what the chemical runoff does to plants and animals in lakes, streams and rivers.
“There’s not really a place for these products on the shelves in the community at this point,” said triclosan researcher Allison Aiello of the Center for Society Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health.
During the past couple of years, Colgate-Palmolive, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson have removed triclosan from some of their products.
UT made news recently when student leaders passed a resolution calling for administrators to ban antibacterial soap from campus. It may have been more of a symbolic move because in 2008 the university began phasing out the use of antibacterial soap, mostly because of costs.
Earlier this month the Canadian government urged companies to voluntarily remove triclosan from household products because of concern about its toxicity to aquatic organisms. The Canadian action followed a government assessment that the current level of triclosan is not harmful to human health, but in significant amounts it can harm the environment.
The CDC says more research is needed to assess the human health effects of exposure to triclosan, which is also classified as a pesticide. Studies are under way at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.
Researchers are looking at how the antimicrobial affects hormonal and immune systems and the chemical’s relationship to asthma and allergies. And could killing a specific bacterium, which triclosan does, tip a body’s balance to cause long-term health problems?
The eco-nazis will stop at nothing to endanger the human race. Anyone remember the flawed studies on Hexachlorophene? Thousands of babies died after it was banned as a post birth baby wash to prevent birthing infections. If we continue down this path we can expect a resurgence of food born illnesses of hand washing origin. Then of course the myopic minions of Rachel Carson will tell us to not to eat in resturants. The incremental campaign to wipe out the human race one product at a time will never end until we force these idiots to live by own their agenda and they die from the very “natural” and “organic” they so worship.
True or false:
“Antibacterial soap does not work any better than regular soap, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other studies.”
True. (!)
The objective in washing your hands
is to remove bacteria. Whether it dies or
not is of no interest.
Triclosan in soap is marketing, not science.
We stopped using the antibacterial soaps a few years ago and now find that our skin freaks out if we use it. It tends to dry us out and makes my skin miserable for a while. I’d have to agree that the antibacterial thing has been way too overdone. They’ve put so many “extras” into our products that we really do not need!
When I want to use a liquid soap, I use one of the “green” liquid detergents (I don’t care about the green part, but I need something without perfumes). In order to put a little more zip into it, I pour some into a smaller bottle, and then add a few tablespoons of cheap vodka. Really cuts grease on plates and hands.
Puritan environmentalists caused this by telling us incessantly how dirty everything is. Which is why we are currently choking to death each time we go out into the open air…or not.
So by giving the impression that we’re all going to diiieeee unless we are perfectly clean and green they cause people to be hyperaware of nonexistent dangers. Like evil germs.
So to be free of evil germs, some bright spark invents hand antibacterials and the rest is history. Meanwhile we all get allergies because our immune systems, which are tuned to seek and destroy those poor evil germs, no longer have anything to chase except dastardly pollen grains.
Maybe someone can invent an antienvironmentalist hand cream.
Really Bruce?
What do environmentalist have to do with germs? In fact, your point is completely wrong. Environmentalist say that triclosan is a marketing trick and is harmful to the environment, that you shouldn’t use it and regular soap works just fine. Please educate yourself (somehow I know you won’t).
Did you even bother to read the article? The information in my comment is right there. You are either lazy or stupid or both.