Consumer cleaning products, such as hand soaps and dishwashing detergents, frequently make claims such as “kills 99% of germs!” Despite these claims, overuse of antibacterial soaps has been correlated with an overall increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. How can you explain this unexpected result?
a. Commercial cleaning agents are highly basic, and antibiotics are highly acidic, so the manufacturing process actually has the effect of neutralizing both, rendering the mixture useless.
b. The antibacterial agents contained in these cleaning products have specific storage requirements to maintain efficacy; consumers should keep them refrigerated when not in use.
c. Bacteria that are not killed by these products are able to exchange plasmids carrying genes for antibiotic resistance with each other and with non-resistant bacteria that are added to the colony.
d. Some cleaning products that are marketed as having antibacterial properties are actually designed to have the opposite effect, in order to force consumers to buy increasing volumes of soap over time.
c. Bacteria that are not killed by these products are able to exchange plasmids carrying genes for antibiotic resistance with each other and with non-resistant bacteria that are added to the colony.
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