not sure that this is true. Antibiotic resistant bacteria are not necessarily resistant to chemical disinfectants like alcohol, triclosan, listerine and clorox. Reducing the bacterial load on hands, raw vegetables, uncooked meats and the environment in general is a good thing, unless you subscribe to the "farm kids are healthier than city kids because they are less sheltered from bacteria and animal dander" school. Any thoughts on this, MDinana, Blast, scientists and wisemen?
Bacteria can develop some resistance to alcohol, triclosan, listerine, etc... Each individual bacteria has a different susceptibility to these chemicals, some having higher, some lower. Most people don't follow the directions for using this these cleaners, often just giving a sloppy, quick wipe so the dosage the bugs get can be lower than needed to kill the "strongest" bacteria. These survivors reproduce...
As for needing to be exposed to a bacteria to build up a strong immune system, I firmly believe this to be true. Some studies I've looked at recently tie the higher occurrence of Lupus in females (x9 than males) may be due to girls aren't allowed to play in the dirt as much as boys.
-Blast