Washing your hands can cause cancer. I was shocked after reading this truth!

Recently, articles about "hand sanitizers contain carcinogens" have begun to occupy major WeChat Moments again. Amid so many different opinions, is hand sanitizer harmful to humans?

Hand sanitizer, the secrets behind it

Hand sanitizer is a very common daily necessity that removes dirt and attached bacteria from hands through the effects of friction, surfactants, and water flow.

Washing hands like this can easily cause illness

However, hand sanitizers often claim to have added antibacterial ingredients that can eliminate bacteria more effectively and partially inhibit the reproduction of bacteria on the skin for a certain period of time.

In this way, the skin of your hands can be kept relatively clean and the risk of infectious diseases can be reduced.

It is this antibacterial substance that has caused controversy.

How to inhibit bacteria?

The antibacterial substances we often talk about usually include two categories: antibiotics and non-drug disinfectants with antibacterial activity. Hand sanitizers usually contain non-drug compounds that have disinfecting and antibacterial effects.

However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a statement saying that in the United States, the "antibacterial" experiments of over-the-counter toiletries with the "antibacterial" logo do not directly test the effectiveness of the product in reducing infection rates.

And, when it comes to preventing disease, there is currently no evidence that toiletries labeled "antibacterial/antimicrobial" are better than plain soap and water.

Can antibacterial ingredients cause cancer?

At present, the most commonly used antibacterial compound in hand sanitizers that has attracted everyone's attention is triclosan. As early as 2012, the US FDA stated that based on the current level of scientific research, triclosan is safe.

At the same time, considering that the above-mentioned substances are added to hand sanitizers, they can basically only be absorbed by the human body through skin penetration, and the intake dose is smaller, so the health risks should be further reduced.

Do we need to use antibacterial/antimicrobial products?

Can these hand sanitizers really provide extra protection to our health and that of our families as their advertisements claim? I'm afraid that's not necessarily true.

First of all, being serious is the most important

Even if you use the most common soap or hand sanitizer that does not contain antibacterial ingredients, as long as the hand washing process is standardized and serious, you can still eliminate most of the attached bacteria on your hands.

On the contrary, even if you use hand sanitizer containing antibacterial substances, if some "dead corners" are left uncleaned, there will still be the risk of infectious diseases. From this perspective, how to wash your hands is more important than what to wash your hands with.