The FDA and Soap



Doctor:

What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands.



Gentlewoman:

It is an accustom’d action with her, to seem thus washing her hands. I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.



Lady Macbeth:

Yet here’s a spot.



Doctor:

Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.



Lady Macbeth:

Out, damn’d spot! out, I say!



-Macbeth, Act V, Scene I



Germophobes rejoice! Or revolt! I’m not sure which, but the FDA is now going to require that manufacturers of anti-bacterial soaps prove that their products are safe over time and that they work better than plain soap and water. (Your hand sanitizer is still safe, for now.)  A bit more from Jeff Bezo's Washington Post article .