Say goodbye to those "antibacterial" soaps. The Food and Drug Administration says they do little or nothing to make soap work any better and said the industry has failed to prove they're safe.

    Companies will have a year to take the ingredients out of the products, the FDA said. They include triclosan and triclocarban. Soap manufacturers will have an extra year to negotiate over other, less commonly used ingredients such as benzalkonium chloride.

I noticed that Dial had removed Triclosan a couple years ago in favor of benzalkonium chloride. That might be going away next year. It's surprisingly difficult to find a soap with few chemicals that's easy on skin. They pulled Ivory liquid hand soap a while ago. Dr. Bronner's dries out my skin. I don't care for Soft Soap. I don't really like the Dial, but it's my default because I like everything else less. Maybe this shake-up will bring better soaps on the market.


posted 2785 days ago