Daily HealthBeat Tip

Who needs antibacterial soaps?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Soap cleans. And with sick people in the house, cleaning is important. Cleaning thoroughly with soap can help to keep germs from spreading.

But does antibacterial soap do the job better?

A scientific advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration doesn't think so. Dr. Alastair Wood of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine chaired the panel:

"The bottom line for people in the community to know is that there's not a shred of evidence that antibacterial soaps are any more effective in preventing infections than conventional soaps." (11 seconds)

Wood says antibacterial soaps did kill bacteria in lab tests. But he says any attempt to make a house as bacteria-free as a lab test won't work. And he says it might give bacteria a chance to mutate into creatures that can fight off bacteria-killing ingredients.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: January 3, 2005

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