“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” is an oft quoted maxim that I personally feel is true. However, when applied to bacteria the results are stronger bugs that may be resistant to treatment.
The common use of ‘antibacterial’ products in the home introduces enormous amounts of the chemicals that were previously only used in hospitals and labs. These chemicals, while very effective at killing bacteria, don’t kill it all. That this left behind contributes to the production of resistant strains of bacteria. These strains have also been shown (in the lab) to be resistant to the most common treatments for bacterial infections.
The result is that we are contributing to the evolution of drug-resistant forms of bacteria through our use of anti-bacterial products in our homes.
Stick with soap and water; it is just as effective and does NOT contribute to super-bugs.
Strange but True: Antibacterial Products May Do More Harm Than Good: Scientific American
