WEBVTT - How Antibacterial Soap Works

0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840
<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.600
<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know

0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.720
<v Speaker 1>from how stuff Works dot Com? Hi, welcome to the podcast.

0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:14.920
<v Speaker 1>I'm Josh Clark. I'm a staff writer here at how

0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.520
<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works dot Com. With me, as always is my

0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.640
<v Speaker 1>very attractive and trustee editor Chris Pallette Chrisis, you're gokie.

0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:26.079
<v Speaker 1>Oh it's great. Thanks asking. Let's talk about antibacterial soap

0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.440
<v Speaker 1>if you want to? Sure? Why not? Chris? Should we

0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.080
<v Speaker 1>or should we not outlaw antibacterial soap? I don't know

0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:35.440
<v Speaker 1>that we need outlaw antibacterial soap, but you know we

0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.120
<v Speaker 1>need to take a second second look at whether or

0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:39.800
<v Speaker 1>not we should be using it in all of our

0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.640
<v Speaker 1>daily applications. Why. Well, simply put, um, it's not that

0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:49.160
<v Speaker 1>much more effective than regular soap, and it can breed

0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:53.600
<v Speaker 1>stronger bacteria. Yeah. Basically from what I gather, uh, you know,

0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.240
<v Speaker 1>from the research I did writing the article. Uh, it

0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.360
<v Speaker 1>basically provides this uh, this environment or bacteria where the

0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.800
<v Speaker 1>bacteria that happens to survive uh goes on to evolved

0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.520
<v Speaker 1>to be resistant to the antibacterial agents. Right right, Okay,

0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.480
<v Speaker 1>so we've got this this basically we're providing a staging

0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:19.959
<v Speaker 1>ground for rapid evolution and we're making our own worst enemy.

0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.880
<v Speaker 1>That's true. That's true because, uh, you know, some of

0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:26.560
<v Speaker 1>the some of the drug resistant strains um can actually

0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.959
<v Speaker 1>you know, be very very harmful and can be fatal

0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.199
<v Speaker 1>in some cases. You know, one that comes to mind

0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.840
<v Speaker 1>is Mercia, the Mercy virus, which is a type of

0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:41.280
<v Speaker 1>staff and as Rosie O'Donnell, no staff is no laugh, um.

0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.760
<v Speaker 1>And basically Mercia is like a superstaff. It's it's extremely

0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:47.840
<v Speaker 1>resistant to any kind of drugs. And a lot of

0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.800
<v Speaker 1>people think that that Mercy has been allowed to develop

0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:56.240
<v Speaker 1>because of antibacterial drugs anti I'm sorry, Well yeah, antibacterial drugs,

0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:01.840
<v Speaker 1>antibacterial cleaning products, which all together make up a term

0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.960
<v Speaker 1>that I coined in the article, the antibacterial lifestyle. What

0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.240
<v Speaker 1>do you know about that? Well, um, you know, there

0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.560
<v Speaker 1>are a lot of people, as as a parent of

0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.160
<v Speaker 1>a young child, um, you know, I've seen a lot

0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:17.800
<v Speaker 1>of other parents who are trying to keep their kids

0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.680
<v Speaker 1>away from germs, which is you know, a reasonable concern.

0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.160
<v Speaker 1>So they they buy a lot of antibacterial soaps, they

0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:28.200
<v Speaker 1>buy antibacterial cleaning products, they go to the store and

0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.760
<v Speaker 1>pick up an antibacterial basket to put their stuff in,

0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.840
<v Speaker 1>or put their kids in the antibacterial card because everywhere

0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.600
<v Speaker 1>sponges kinds of and they've figured out a way to

0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.919
<v Speaker 1>put it into plastics and blankets and and all sorts

0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.920
<v Speaker 1>of things countertops. I think there's a problem with that,

0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.120
<v Speaker 1>and that is that if you if you raise your

0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.400
<v Speaker 1>child then in in completely sanitized environment, then if you're

0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.079
<v Speaker 1>gonna be exposed to any allergens, you can't go out

0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.440
<v Speaker 1>and sanitize the entire world. So when your kid finally

0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.720
<v Speaker 1>goes out to play, they're gonna end up as like

0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.320
<v Speaker 1>a bubble boy or something because they haven't been supposed

0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.520
<v Speaker 1>to any any allergies and haven't been able to form antibodies.

0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.079
<v Speaker 1>I think there's a there's a certain level of dirt

0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.400
<v Speaker 1>you need to have in your house to maintain health.

0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.680
<v Speaker 1>Wouldn't you agree, Well, that's true. I mean if the

0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.040
<v Speaker 1>if the germs are getting stronger by being exposed to

0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.880
<v Speaker 1>the animal microbial antibacterial agents, um, you know, people are

0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.839
<v Speaker 1>not getting stronger by allowing themselves to get over being

0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.080
<v Speaker 1>exposed to these germs. So one side is getting stronger

0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.720
<v Speaker 1>while the other is staying in place, if you will.

0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:31.799
<v Speaker 1>Essentially we're shooting ourselves in our own feet, you know.

0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.080
<v Speaker 1>And there are other ways to to deal with the

0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.480
<v Speaker 1>problem too. I mean, there are other products that are

0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.320
<v Speaker 1>not necessarily anti uh antibacterial. We were talking about bleach

0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:42.480
<v Speaker 1>as one. Now it's you know, not something you want

0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.760
<v Speaker 1>laying around on your countertops. It can leave a residue

0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:49.640
<v Speaker 1>in in a lot of cases, but bleach can um

0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.800
<v Speaker 1>well okay, maybe not all cases, but um, bleach can

0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:59.160
<v Speaker 1>kill microbes just by uh licening them, by breaching their

0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.760
<v Speaker 1>cell walls, and they really have no defense against that. Yeah,

0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.240
<v Speaker 1>And that's this is where the term for the brand

0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.480
<v Speaker 1>name cleaner Lisol comes from. To lice is to basically

0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:13.480
<v Speaker 1>completely obliterate a cell. So Lifsol's name means obliterate cells,

0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.040
<v Speaker 1>which I just think is super cool. Yeah. And the

0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.200
<v Speaker 1>reason that that I brought up countertops two is I

0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:22.159
<v Speaker 1>read about this countertop material that they have in development

0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:26.640
<v Speaker 1>where um, it's not anim bacterial because it's got a

0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.719
<v Speaker 1>chemical in it, it's antibacterial because it has thousands and

0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.440
<v Speaker 1>thousands of tiny little uh, you know, points on the

0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.200
<v Speaker 1>surface of it that when bacteria hit it, they rupture,

0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.120
<v Speaker 1>and so it kills bacteria, not through the use of

0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.120
<v Speaker 1>some chemical but because this the surface has lots of

0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.280
<v Speaker 1>little points that are that are that pierced the bacteria,

0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.640
<v Speaker 1>but are harmless to your hand because you can't even

0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.440
<v Speaker 1>feel them, which is a you know, scientific way around

0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.359
<v Speaker 1>the around the problem. It's excellent, so you get the

0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.520
<v Speaker 1>best of both worlds. And well, I'll tell you what,

0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.719
<v Speaker 1>after researching this article, I've completely given up using antibacterial soap.

0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.080
<v Speaker 1>All oh. I suspect that the soap they used in

0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.880
<v Speaker 1>the dispensers in the bathroom maybe so, so I'll be

0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.479
<v Speaker 1>lodging a formal complaint. Let's it for us. Be sure

0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.000
<v Speaker 1>to read should antibacterial soap be Outlawed? On how stuff

0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.880
<v Speaker 1>works dot com for more on this and thousands of

0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.360
<v Speaker 1>other topics. Because at how stuff works dot com, let

0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.080
<v Speaker 1>us know what you think. Send an email to podcast

0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:27.279
<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com. M brought to you

0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.680
<v Speaker 1>by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are

0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:30.880
<v Speaker 1>you