It does make you wonder…
What if I got cutaneous anthrax or some other horrible biological agent on my body, would antibacterial soap work any better than regular soap at deactivating, or killing, that agent?
Should I be scrubbing myself down more than normal until the threat, albeit weak, subsides?
I’d have to strongly presume “no”. It’s my understanding that the so-called antibacterial soaps (which these days is every damn soap) aren’t really very effective at killing wimpy little everyday bacteria. Anthrax is notoriously difficult to kill, and requires a lot of heat or very strong radiation. So most likely the soap will do what soap usually does: rinse the offending substance off your hands. However, I have no hard evidence or a cite, so take this with a grain of salt.
Shame on you for using antibacterial soap.
Nutcase.
To begin with, SenorBeef, why not?
The ‘controversy’ surrounding antibacterial soap is a crock, if you ask me. The idea that antibacterial soaps somehow ‘wimpify’ kids to life is yet another unproven and unresearched idea that’s only been proven in the eyes of an irony loving media.
Besides, I’m an adult, I’ve already been exposed to, and built tolerances for, the benign bacteria floating around in everyday life. Even if it is true, it doesn’t effect me.
I like my yellow antibacterial Dawn [sup]™[/sup], it’ll be a cold day in hell when you can pry it from my hands!
miatachris-
Thanks for the link, but it doesn’t say anything about the difference between antibacterial soap and regular old hand soap.
My question is more down the lines of whether antibacterial soap, because it says it’s antibacterial, is any better at treating this stuff than the normal stuff.
I like the name, but I don’t know about the miata part… I’m an MR-2 guy, myself.
Antibacterial soup is a con perpetrated on the public by soup manufacturers. 99% of all household cleaning can effectively be achieved by common soup and a little bleach. Use of antibacterial agents in soaps won’t protect you any better than regular soup and proper hygenic practice.
All its use is achieving is a public paranoid about micro-organisms we’ve managed to live with for millions of years and actually, in moderation, may be good for us. How else can you develop an immune system? There are also fears that its indiscriminate use may result in more resistant bacterial strains developing.
See this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=73422
But back to the OP; the answer is no.
mmm, anti-bacterial Chicken Noodle…
I don’t subscribe that theory.
However…
Say you’ve got 100 bacteria. 5 of them are naturally somewhat resistant to the antibacterial.
Those 5 live, the other 95 die.
Those 5 reproduce eventually into, say, 100 more. And let’s say that 50 of them have antibacterial resistance they inherited.
You kill 50, the 50 that are resistant live. They pass their resistance to the next generation, where 90 or 100 might live.
In other words, for your own little selfish, irrational comfort, you’ve managed to make antibacterial chemicals less effective for places that actually need them, like hospitals, because the bacteria were given resistance.
Wrong. A mild bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide easily destroy the anthrax bacterium. For procedures, contact CDC.
What I got from that page -
Since the instruction was not “antibacterial soap” I wouldn’t infer a difference. Generally, against anthrax in the modes being discussed, handwashing is not your first line of defense anyway.
It seems to me that, the people (a loose term there) mailing this stuff out seem to have it in for a few specific types of other people…
[ul]
high elected federal officeholders
tv network anchormen
[/ul]
and, by unintended (?) consequences…
[ul]
mail handlers
assistants, secretaries, staffers
[/ul]
so I personally am not going to worry about these types of people…
[ul]
miata drivers
mr2 drivers
[/ul]
unless they fall into one of the other categories, too.
Your worries may vary, of course. As well as your mileage, for that matter. 
Er, there are anthrax bacteria, and then there are spores, which my understanding was that they’re very difficult to destroy.
When the University of Iowa destroyed its anthrax stocks a couple of weeks ago, bowing to public opinion and to head off a possible panic in Ames, they didn’t just pour some bleach over them. They stuck them in an autoclave and then incinerated them.
Do I need to go find a cite for that? 
I haven’t had any coffee yet. It was in the Chicago Tribune.
I didn’t mean to hit a nerve, SenorBeef. I had no clue I was disrupting the natural order of things by using my dawn dishwashing liquid like that.
Mr miata-
I understand what you were linking to, and I didn’t mean to slight it. I guess I wasn’t taking the inference you were in that article, that’s all.
And you’re right, it’s not anything I’m too worried about for now. It’s something that simply caught my curiosity.
DDG-
I don’t need a cite for that because I tend not to disagree with it. But I guess I don’t understand what that has to do with antibacterial soap.
Because when it comes to some forms of anthrax and other biological agents, I’ve heard a simple solution of soap will wash it off. About all I was wondering was whether the antibacterial kind was somehow better becasue of its ‘antibacterialness’.
I think we should all stick to the more important questions of our time, such as “miata vs mr2”.
No offense taken, bud.
Er, um, uh–Ducky, do any of these silly, rather demeaning rhetorical devices strengthen MY response or make you feel the least bit silly?–go ahead and argue with the CDC and its vast array of experts re: bleach and peroxide. For specifics, call Atlanta.
Considering that sticking your hands and mail into an autoclave might be counterindicated, there are alternatives, though none with such media appeal. Lab protocol obviously requires the use of autoclaves. Since most of us don’t operate anthrax labs in our homes, we have to compromise.
Love, tsunamisufer
They were discussing this on the news yesterday. They said that you should wash your hands after opening mail. But they didn’t say what soap to use, for how long do you wash & what water temperature. Even then if you touch the faucet to turn the water on & later after you wash touch it again, you’re just infecting your hands again. There are ways around that but of course they don’t mention those.
I may very well be wrong, but this is intriguing:
I’m talking about the so-called “weapons-grade” Anthrax spores that so many live in fear of these days. I’ve been led to believe that these are more impervious to destruction than the Anthrax bacteria you might find on various animals, and that this is one reason it presents such a health threat.
Actually I have heard the very same argument that senorbeef is talking about from a several seperate people (radio talk shows, TV, etc). It does appear to have some merit to it and I don’t use anti-bacterial soap anymore myself. Personally, and this is only my opinion, I think it should be taken off the market. Nothing wrong with good 'ol ivory soap bars that everyone else has been using for 50 years.
Er, ah, Tsunamisurfer, what brought that on?
“demeaning rhetorical devices”? “strengthen MY response”? “or make you feel the least bit silly?”
What?
CDC and its vast array of experts says nothing at all about bleach or peroxide destroying spores, which is what I was talking about. Got a cite?
http://www.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/15/guillemin/
If you’ve got a cite that says you just need to sprinkle a little bleach around to get rid of anthrax spores, by all means, trot it out–my husband’s a letter carrier. I’d sure like to know.
Damn you to hell, Duck. I am desperately clinging to this much-needed illusion and don’t need you poking a hole in my lifesaver, all right?
BTW, if I sounded irate in the last thread, a thousand apologies. Inhalational anthrax has a way of doing that. And to think I used to worry about asbestos!
Seriously, I have heard CDC officials say bleach and hydrogen peroxide are effective. No, their website doesn’t say this, but then their website needs a hell of a lot of updating. No word from anyone on concentrations. That said, these are the same people who, two days ago, contradicted themselves on key issues.
From now on, my policy is simple: no mail inside my house. I mist all envelopes with a mild bleach solution, leave it in a box for 24 hours, then open the envelope outside, remove the contents, and dispose of everything else in a sealed plastic bag.
Meanwhile, OBL reportedly has components for an atomic bomb…
It’s a pet peeve of mine. There is really no use whatsoever for antibacterial soap for 99.9% of people. Regular soap will be equally hygenic.
However, soccer moms get off on the idea that they’re somehow protecting their kids further from the Evil Bacteria if they use this sort of stuff. It’s purely irrational and reactionary, with no thought.
And the threat caused by these chemicals is very real. You’re forcing/speeding up bacterial evolution, creating bacteria that are tougher, more robust, and more resistant to our medicines.
Just to make yourself feel like you’re accomplishing something more than with regular soap.
Argh.