Antibacterial Everything!

I was staying at a relatives house and while taking a shower I noticed that the liquid soap I was about to use was anti-bacterial body wash. What possible need could I have to use antibacterial soap everywhere? I suppose this would be more for your head than your body because physiologically this is a bad idea. Unless if you are of a compromised immune system or very intimately taking care of someone that is using these soaps and instant hand sanitizers at all is unnecessary. Your body takes care of itself, if you have healthy insides, exposure to most common daily bacteria is good for you and will make you stronger.

This idea that dirt and germs are bad rises out of the early 1900's when people were struggling to get away from the land and moved into cities. Cities became crowded and they could no longer simply let cows graze in the city and had no room for agricultural plots to grow food. They started to outsource the work of providing food to the country side. Farming practices were not always top notch. Efforts were made to maximize productivity but at the cost of safety. Many people started to get sick from milk, meat, and produce that was coming in from these unsanitary regions. With Luis Pasteur's invention of pasteurization and a growing awareness of germ theory the conclusion was made that if we kill all of the germs and bacteria the product will be healthier. Along with the bad, we killed the good and haven't looked back yet. Unfortunately we are now seeing super bugs that we cannot kill. Bacteria and Viruses reproduce and mutate in ways that we do not fully understand. But when we create breeding grounds by killing everything else off we are setting up a bad situation for ourselves.

Think about when you were growing up. Was the kid that was always playing in the dirt, the one that was always sick? Likely not. It was probably the one whose mother wouldn't let him go outside. Go outside, touch a subway pole, eat naturally raised meat products and raw milk from quality places if you can get your hands on it. Let the bacteria roam free, especially the good ones.