Suddenly I’m told—I have to change the way I wash and clean. I used to buy antibacterial soaps for bathing and for dishwashing. After all, I thought they were helping me and my kids be healthy.

Now the news is that antibacterial soaps products may be hurting us, and the FDA is requiring “soap manufacturers to demonstrate that antibacterial substances are safe or to take them out of the products altogether”.

The Natural Resources Defense Council warns that the antibacterial chemicals are making us less healthy by interfering with hormones in children and encouraging the growth of drug-resistant bacteria.

Simple solution—I’ve stopped buying anything labeled “antibacterial” or “antimicrobial” in soaps, toothpaste, cosmetics, and personal care products.

Read news here.

My hero Mark Bittman, NYTimes columnist and a leader against use of antiobiotics in animal feed, writes, “I think we’re looking at an industry-friendly response to the public health emergency of diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resistance that is bred in industrially raised animals… this overuse of antibiotics is leading to increasing bacterial resistance, that we’re breeding an army of supergerms.”

“Push for labeling: ‘Raised without antibiotics’ is a label we could pay more attention to. And push our markets to carry more truly antibiotic-free meat, and buy it.

Shockingly the FDA is a culprit in the overuse of antibiotics. Evidently the FDA has been aware of the problems caused by putting antibiotics in animal feed. The FDA wrote a memo for over 35 years that states the use of antibiotics in animal feed should be restricted, and then sat on the memo. Nothing happened. Then the FDA was ordered by a court to issue guidelines on the use of antibiotics for animals. Finally the FDA is taking feedback on their very weak proposals, which only asks drug companies to voluntarily restrict the use of antibiotics by excluding growth promotion in animals as a listed use on the drug label.

The outraged response to asking drug companies and farmers to voluntarily reduce the use of antibiotics for animals has been loud, yet the agricultural and drug lobbies seem to rule.

Read the FDA report.