The Food and Drug Administration has officially banned antibacterial soaps—or, more specifically, 19 ingredients in soaps—after considering it for at least 6 years. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a lawsuit in 2010 to pressure the FDA to consider regulating antibacterial soaps, to which the FDA finally responded.

In the press release, the FDA said, "Companies will no longer be able to market antibacterial washes with these ingredients because manufacturers did not demonstrate that the ingredients are both safe for long-term daily use and more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illness and the spread of certain infections."

Though antibacterial soaps have been used for decades, and the FDA has been apparently investigating the safety of one of the most controversial ingredients, triclosan, for even longer, the soaps were never really inspected after they were released.