The announcement, coming late last week from the US Food and Drug Administration, requires personal care manufacturers to remove 19 ingredients from anti-bacterial washes.
Proposed rules by the FDA could remove antibacterial soaps and body washes from store shelves which may lead to more than $38 billion in health care costs annually.
The Cosmetics Toiletry and Fragrance Association and the Soap and
Detergent Association have defended anti-bacterial soaps after US
health experts claimed that such products were no more effective
than regular soap and water.