Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Hand Washing

Though I want to be a good steward, I'll be frank and state that I am not overly concerned about "saving the earth." After all, it's all going to burn one day and be replaced.

The interesting thing I've found about some "earth friendly" thinking is that it relates closely to "people friendly." The anti-bacterial soap ingredient that gets into lakes and kills fish? It's the same thing that makes me more likely to get sick by promoting bacterial resistance; the same substance, classified as a pesticide, that can make its way into breastmilk for my precious babies!

So while "being gentle to the earth" isn't one of my main goals, being gentle to my family's bodies is. And I've found those two goals overlap more often than I used to think they might.

All that is an introduction to this post on Hand Washing at Simple Organic. Very informative and practical. Anti-bacterial soap is bad for you, dear ones, and this gives a great explaination of why, with links to additional resources. It also answers the "what do I do instead?" question.

3 comments:

Tracy Crowe Jones said...

I was always against anti-bacterial products - until Steve got his life-threatening MRSA infection in 2007. Even then, it took a lot of coaxing from the professionals to convince me to use anti-bacterial products. However, I think Steve and I are in a different situation than most others. Once a person has a MRSA outbreak (most of us have the bacteria in our bodies already), he or she is much more susceptible (sp?) to getting it again. Add to that the severity of Steve's diabetes and we can't run the risk of simply using soap. Not only do we have to use anti-bacterial products, but when either of us has a cut of any size we have to wash it with Hibiclens (sp?) several times a day until it heals. Steve gets a MRSA outbreak almost every six months and that follows with my getting a minor outbreak. He's already taken Bactrim (the only currently known antibiotic to fight MRSA) so many times that there is fear he has buily up a resistance.

So, I guess I say all of this just to put a "second opinion" out there - that there are times when the "super germs" have gotten bad enough in someone's immune system that they've past the point of no return and anti-bacterial products are a must.

Thoughts from others? I'd be curious to hear.

Laurel said...

I'm glad for the second opinion and for you sharing your experiences, Tracy. I know that whole MRSA thing has been very scary (and bothersome!) for you guys. I'm defnitely not saying that there aren't exceptional situations.
It's kind of like cancer, in a way... I, in general, am not a fan of the way modern medicine treats cancer. Yet there is a line, I believe, past which you can't bring your body back to health with only nutritional/"natural" healing methods. What to do if your body has crossed that line? Or even where precisely IS that line? Questions of a very personal and difficult nature.

Again, I'm glad for your thoughtful comments.

Tracy Crowe Jones said...

Very true...and I guess the same can be said for any physical ailment. Where is the line between natural treatment and that in which modern medicine should step in. Obviously, God created physicians and medicine so there is benefit to it, but how many other ailments are caused by modern treatments? Interesting things to ponder. Do you ever discuss this stuff with Eric?