Hand Sanitizer Will Make You Sicker in the Long Run

Hand sanitizer is one of the best ways to get sick. If you seek to be unhealthy, then by all means, purchase a bottle of hand sanitizer. I know that's contrary to what the sanitizer companies will tell you, but considering they're in business to sell their product, they're not really going to tell you anything bad about it. The truth is, hand sanitizer is actually MORE likely to make you sick. Sure it may prevent against the seasonal cold for the moment, but it makes you more likely to get sick later on down the road, with something far more serious than a simple cold.

The same is true of antibacterial soaps. Hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps are exactly that: Antibacterial. Using them kills not only harmful bacteria, but beneficial bacterias as well. This can weaken your immune system and leave your body open to more sickness and infection later on. It is also responsible for creating stronger strains of medicine-resistant bacteria.

Antibacterial products simply makes the bacteria "try harder." Rather than preventing bacteria from making us sick, it simply creates super bacterias. Things like MRSA infections are the result of bacteria becoming resistant due to overuse of antibacterials.

Being too sterile is not a good thing. Your body needs a little exposure to develop any type of immunity. Being exposed to cold germs are meant to give us immunity to more serious diseases later on. Using antibacterial products all the time keeps us in a sterile state and prevents our immune system from building up antibodies to germs. This makes a person's body more susceptible to disease in the future. Being too sterile increases a person's sensitivity to the world around them thereby making them also more likely to suffer from allergies of all kinds.

One of the major chemicals in hand sanitizer and antibacterial soaps is called triclosan. (This chemical is not in regular soap, just the antibacterial variety) Triclosan is in fact a pesticide that has been linked to a multitude of cancers and can also substantially weaken the heart. Also when all those antibacterial chemicals are washed down the sink, they keep right on killing...whatever they come into contact with. Scientists have found fish who have difficulty swimming due to weakened hearts from a build up antibacterial chemicals in their systems. When fish can't swim, they can't breathe. When they can't breathe, they die.

Triclosan was originally designed to clean hospitals, where there are often very serious forms of bacteria that need to be destroyed. They were not originally intended for use on general household germs (at least not until somebody decided they could make money by marketing it to the general public). Ordinary household germs can easily be washed away with good old-fashioned soap and water. A 2005 study by the FDA found that soap and water washes away harmful germs and prevents general infections just as well as any antibacterial soap or hand sanitizer, without killing all the beneficial bacteria that we need.

If you really want to avoid being sick and don't want to worry about creating something like MRSA down the road, simple soap and water along with healthy veggies and adequate sleep is still the best remedy, (a little pine-needle tea never hurts either). Also a little cinnamon oil and honey have antibacterials properties that kill bad bacteria while leaving beneficial bacteria alone.