Super Germs

Common Dreams
Ive had issue with this whole Anti-Bacterial trend ever since it started. Because Im one of those folks who believes in Evolution I think that if a product kills 99.9% of bacteria then that 0.5% that lived were the strongest ones. And in the case of bacteria where your talking about millions or billions of individuals then 0.5% is still plenty to reproduce.
First I was concerned because it creates stronger more resilient bacteria. Then I started thinking about kids that grow up with parents who disinfect everything, how is that child ever going to develop a stong immune system capable of fending off infections? If a child gets dirty and ill from time to time then their body is better off for the next time it encounters encounters that virus or bacteria. This seems so common sence to me that I feel stupid even brining it up. But then I go into the store and try to buy non-anti-bacterical soap and its a challenge. theres fifty dish soaps and one (luckily its cheap) brand that was not an anti-bacterial. It is like any thing else they realized that they could very cheaply add a little chemical to the soap and it would kill germs and people bought it, sales increased so soon every soap was anti-bacterial. Now they are realizing that the anti-bacterial agent is not contained in most sewage treatment plants so that chemical is either returned to go downstream in the next towns drinking water or else it gets collected in the sludge that farmers use to fertilize their feild which is making the bacterial relientcy happen much more quickly. A simmilar thing is happening with medications, weve got fish on prozak in our rivers. so at least they arent depressed.