An awful lot of people I know, including day care center operators and anxious parents have small plunger-bottles of anti-bacterial soap on prominent display — in bathrooms, guest bathrooms, on kitchen counters,mounted near the door.  I’ve been to trade shows where the stuff is available at the ends of the long aisles to clean the contamination from so much pressing the flesh, and to hotels where it is at the reception desk.

It’s been known for some time among the skeptical few that this anti-bacteria onslaught is likely a case of over-kill –with plenty of unintended consequences.  Of course parents want to protect the kiddies from the most virulent of bacterial infections.  It turns out, however, that playing in the dirt, and licking muddy hands can be good for you:  your body becomes informed about the world it inhabits.  It is allowed to erect its own defenses; to become part of the ecology, as it were.

Now a major article — in the business section, no less, of the NY Times-- brings it up again.  The lede is that some big companies are facing huge business decisions.  The rock-bottom point is that the major ingredient of these anti-bacterial and anti-fungal cleansers may be bad for the user, and the environment surrounding her.

Several studies have shown that triclosan may alter hormone regulation in laboratory animals or cause antibiotic resistance, and some consumer groups and members of Congress want it banned in antiseptic products like hand soap. The F.D.A. has already said that soap with triclosan is no more effective than washing with ordinary soap and water, a finding that manufacturers dispute.

The F.D.A. was to announce the results of its review several months ago, but now says the timing is uncertain and unlikely until next year. The Environmental Protection Agency is also looking into the safety of triclosan.

Scientists have raised concerns about triclosan for decades. Last year, Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts, pressured the F.D.A. to write regulations for antiseptic products like hand soap, including the use of triclosan. The process of creating regulations was started more than three decades ago, but has been repeatedly delayed. In the meantime, Mr. Markey has called for a ban on triclosan in hand soaps, in products that come in contact with food and in products marketed to children.

The concern is based on recent studies about the possible health impacts of triclosan, which the F.D.A. said, in a Feb. 23, 2010, letter to Mr. Markey, “raise valid concerns about the effect of repetitive daily human exposure to these antiseptic ingredients.”

Several have shown that triclosan disrupts the thyroid hormone in frogs and rats, while others have shown that triclosan alters the sex hormones of laboratory animals. Others studies have shown that triclosan can cause some bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics.

So,when your fingers are sticky with pop-corn or those summer ribs, lick them clean, please!  Leave nice unscented soap around, and some hot water.  Let the body take care of the body.

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