I find one of the benefits to making my own cleaning products to be that I don’t have to search for things that aren’t marketed as antibacterial. It never ceases to amaze me just how paranoid many people are about germs because the commercials have told us to fear them.

Exposure to germs is normal, after all, and within reason a healthy thing for you. You can’t build up immunity to things you aren’t ever exposed to.

Wandering around online, I came across this article from last year on the difference between how regular cleaners work and how antibacterial ones work. The more traditional soaps and such simply loosen up dirt and such so they could easily be wiped away. They don’t tend to leave residues.

Antibacterial products, on the other hand, generally do leave residues. This can encourage the development of resistant bacteria.

I’m sure many of you know that resistant bacterial diseases are a problem already due to overuse and misuse of antibiotics in medicine. Too many parents demand antibiotics when they aren’t the answer, and many people don’t use the full prescription, allowing the more resistant bacteria to survive and reproduce.

Frankly, I’d like to avoid having the same thing happen in my home.

That’s why I don’t use antibacterial products. If regular cleaning can simply get rid of them, what more do I need?

Worse, antibacterial products like triclosan are contaminating the environment already. That’s more chances for bacteria to develop a resistance to these things.

These are very simple reasons to avoid antibacterial products, I think. At the very least they’re good enough reasons for me.