Next time you're in your kitchen, look at the area where you prepare food. Wondering how many pathogenic bacteria could live there? There certainly are. But don't let this image cause you to throw away that magazine and run for the antibacterial cleaner under the sink. Right now, it's pretty difficult for these bacteria to get into your body and start wreaking havoc because there just aren't enough of them in your kitchen. But TV commercials for antibacterial cleaners would have you believe otherwise. These happy soccer moms want you to be so afraid of bacteria living in your kitchen that you make sure to buy their product, the one that "kills 99.9% of bacteria." It's true that bacteria can cause disease, and as humans we often disagree with bacteria, but we simply can't kill them all. If we try, we may find our plans backfire and send us into a new and precarious future of illness. To understand how, we need only look at how bacteria quickly became resistant to antibiotics, and we see a story unfolding that begins with penicillin as an attack on disease and has now become a sort of Frankenstein's monster. Since the 1950s, antibiotics have been widely available and frequently prescribed, and as a result our overuse and reliance on antibiotics has left us helpless in the face of new, more powerful bacterial species capable of causing life-threatening diseases, such as as tuberculosis. In their valiant efforts to create safe, disease-free environments, hospitals have unwittingly contributed to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Although these "superbugs" are now primarily found in hospitals, a new wave of household products...... middle of paper...... think about your own kitchen. You have the power to keep it as close to your childhood memory as you want. By limiting our use of antibacterial products, we can keep our homes and those of our children safe. But by trying to eliminate all bacteria and live germ-free, we will catapult ourselves into a dark and uncertain future, where our best medicine has become our worst poison.Notes1. “Archives of Press Releases for 1999,” Soap and Detergent Association website, May 22, 2014. .2. Joseph B. Verrengia, “Some Soaps May Contribute to Drug Resistance,” AP Online. August 6, 2014, June 16, 2014; see also Barbara Ingham, “September 2014 Newsletter,” Food Facts for You! June 20, 2014www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/specialists/ingham/sep2014.html3. Verrengia.