 Is antibacterial soap bad for you? On the surface of it, soap that kills bacteria sounds like a great idea. As well as keeping egregious body odours within societally acceptable limits, it kills off bacteria that could otherwise cause serious infections if they get to the wrong place. But the United States Food and Drug Administration isn't so convinced, and this has led them to challenge manufacturers of antibacterial soaps to prove their products are safe and better at doing their stuff than plain old soap and water. But why use antibacterial soaps in the first place? Here's the deal. Billions upon billions of bacteria live, eat and reproduce in our bodies. Surprisingly, this is actually a good thing. Many of these bacteria help keep us healthy. But if they get inside your body through cuts, or profligate finger licking, or other less salubrious activities, some of them can do a lot of harm. So we're taught to wash our hands regularly, with soap and water, to keep the risks of bacterial infection low. It was probably a no-brainer then to make super soaps when antibacterial agents like Trichlozan came along, enabling them to kill off more bugs and reduce the chances of infection still further. Trichlozan has been in use since the late 1960s to prevent hospital infections, and it's been used widely in personal care products for over 30 years. So why is FDA taking action now? FDA requires chemicals like Trichlozan to be safe and effective to pass mustard. In their eyes, it's not enough for an antibacterial soap just to be safe. It's also got to do a better job than the alternative, which in this case is regular soap and water. The good news is that research indicates Trichlozan is reasonably safe for human use, but there are some niggling uncertainties. For instance, small quantities of Trichlozan can get into the human body when using products like soap. One study found Trichlozan in nearly 75% of people tested. So most of us have a floating around our bodies somewhere. But are these low levels dangerous? In the short term, probably not. But there's less certainty over possible long-term impacts, like cancer for instance. Trichlozan looks like it doesn't actually cause cancer when the stuff gets inside your body, but there are some slight concerns that it might not be good for the skin over long periods of use. Once out in the environment, Trichlozan isn't good for some organisms and it tends to hang around for a while. And when it does degrade, it can be transformed into more dangerous chemicals, although whether this is an issue no one knows for sure yet. Then there are worries over overuse leading to antibacterial resistant microbes. There's not a whole lot of evidence to support this, but there are some indicators that it could be a possible problem. And finally, Trichlozan can behave like a human hormone. This doesn't necessarily mean that it's harmful, just because something shows hormone-like behavior doesn't mean it belongs on the blacklist. But it does suggest more needs to be known about the long-term safety of the substance, especially in the early stages of prenatal development. Of course, any potential risks, especially speculative ones, need to be balanced against the benefits of using bug-killing soap. In this case, there's quite a bit of research that suggests Trichlozan-containing soap doesn't perform better than ordinary soap and water, unless high concentrations of substance are used and there are repeated washings. This isn't too surprising. A soap and water are pretty good at killing bacteria without additional help. Of course, in a medical setting, you need every edge you can get, and here, good washing practices and Trichlozan can combine to keep infection rates down. But for ordinary people, the FDA remains to be convinced that the benefits of using antibacterial soap outweigh the potential downsides, which is why they are proposing to ask manufacturers for more evidence before giving their products the green light. In the meantime, there is absolutely nothing to stop you as a consumer using these soaps. Or not. It all depends on how you personally balance the potential downsides with the possible benefits. For more information on antibacterial agents in soaps and the FDA's proposed ruling, please check out the links in the blurb below. And don't forget to join the conversation in the comments.