Just as antibiotic prescriptions can be misused, so, too, can antibacterial products.

If antibacterial and antimicrobial products may be a threat to public health, why are are they still on store shelves?

We'll get to that, but first let's look at how antibacterial products work - or don't work.

An antibacterial product is a product that acts against bacteria in some unspecified way.

More women than men say they make an extra effort to buy antibacterial products - 61 percent versus 42 percent.

In Italy, he said, antibacterial products are advertised in public laundries.

From just a few dozen antibacterial products in the mid-1990's, there are more than 700 being sold today, Dr. Levy said.

The makers of antibacterial products are fond of the word "germs."

No one believes that antibacterial products are the main cause of supergerms.

Many common diseases are viral in nature, anyway, and are therefore not prevented by antibacterial products.