It's not the soap.

[seryn]

I get so tired of ignorant people who mis-educate themselves via hearsay and the internets.

A LJ friend doesn't like to use Dial soap because "antibiotic resistant bacteria are the result of people using too much antibacterial soap".. This is someone who is taking antibiotics for something that can't be helped by them and she's worried about regular bar soap? The fuck.

IT IS NOT the SOAP! It's the rampant prescription of antibiotics for nonsensical reasons.

If you're having surgery, sure. If you have a puncture injury, sure. If you have a bacterial infection, sure. If your bacterial infection isn't treatable with antibiotics because it's a resistant strain, STOP ASKING FOR ANTIBIOTICS.

When you ask for antibiotics but do not have a bacterial infection or the serious risk of one, then YOU are the cause of antibiotic resistant bacteria. If your doctor offers them, ask if it's actually going to help and if it's being offered as a placebo to shut you up, do not take them.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

And today there is this.

[seryn]

That was interesting thanks for sharing it.

[sciarra]

And ALL soap is anti-bacterial. That's just the deal with soap.

[seryn]

Yes! It's unfortunate that the words are so similar and to a lay-person "anti-bacterial" is the more specific one. Actually that helps make me less angry at the general populace because it explains why they tend to choose incorrectly.

I cannot tell you how outraged I get when I see that Neosporin On The Go commercial. Where the mothers spray their kids' scraped knees with this keyfob of neosporin. We don't teach first aid anymore so people never learned: WASH a wound, then treat if (and only if) necessary, then bandage if needed.

Plus the commercial makes me mad because we only see mothers watching children, never any fathers, so it cements this gender bias in caregiving toward a responsibility they should share equally. I understand that every family is different and they might not all choose to share equally, but are there really no men who want to take their children to the park? Are there no men who can soothe a child's scraped knee? Or is it that men are really so much smarter than women that they wouldn't use anti-biotics willy-nilly so all of them refused to be in the commercial?

[sciarra]

I read an article about this once, and the companies have figured out is that women are the buyers of Neosporin. So that even though all kinds of families exist, 90% of their buying demographic happens to be moms. Same reason they aim toothpaste commercials at women even though the dentist spokesperson is usually male. In a household that contains a woman, she usually buys the toothpaste or at least makes the brand decision on it. :-(