Miriam Diamond

David, thank you so much.

I'm so pleased to be speaking with you.

Those are biocides or antimicrobials used in consumer products.

But let me just start a little bit ahead and say, you know, like we really should be concerned about the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

Like for me, it is super scary.

So right now, about worldwide over 1 million deaths a year, but that's poised to increase.

Antimicrobial resistance could be the leading cause of death by 2050.

So this is something that we should really be paying attention to.

That's right.

Well, I don't know if a simple cold could put us in a grave, but it is scary because, especially in certain settings, there's this rise in these superbugs that are resistant to first-line antibiotics, second-line, then you have to go to third and fourth-line, which those are reserved for really serious cases.

So...

We want to make sure that antibiotics work to save lives.

And actually, it's not just our lives, but antibiotics are used overall in agriculture.

We rely heavily on antibiotics for raising animals, for fish farms.

So antibiotics are used a lot.

We should only be using them where they're really effective and when we really need them.

And that does not include your hand soap, it does not include spray disinfectants for surfaces, and it doesn't include laundry sanitizers.

There is no evidence to show that antibacterial soaps and those types of products are effective,

or are needed.

There is no evidence to show that we should be using them, that they provide any benefit, which is kind of crazy.