The Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) wants Health Canada to restrict the availability of antimicrobial soaps in an attempt to slow the increase in the growth of resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria.
At its annual general meeting in Winnipeg in June, delegates passed a resolution urging Health Canada to "implement the appropriate legal instrument to restrict the availability of personal and home-cleaning products that contain nonconventional antimicrobial agents to health care settings in general and to make them available elsewhere only by nonpublic access through pharmacists."
Brad Colpitts, president of the Northwest Territories branch of the CPHA, moved the resolution. He told eCMAJ Today, CMAJ's online cousin, that the use of antimicrobial agents in hand soaps and other cleaners is rising as manufacturers tout these new agents as "magic bullets" for killing bacteria. "Some companies are creating the perception that things can be cleaner if only consumers use these magic bacteria-killing bullets."
Many members of the health community predict increasing resistance to antimicrobial agents will be a major problem in the future as virulent strains of bacteria emerge, unaffected by existing antimicrobial agents. Efforts to date have concentrated on encouraging physicians to eliminate inappropriate prescribing of antibiotic medications as the way to combat the rise of resistant strains of bacteria.
Health Canada, through its Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, convened a consensus conference in Montreal 2 years ago in an attempt to come up with an action plan to limit the development and transmission of antimicrobial-resistant organisms in Canada.
Delegates called for the establishment of a national committee to promote the issue of antimicrobial resistance and for a national surveillance system to detect and monitor both antimicrobial resistance and the use of antimicrobial products. They also recommended a 25% reduction in the number of antibiotic prescriptions written in Canada.
The World Health Organization is adding an international perspective to the issue, particularly since the enormous increase in international travel means individuals exposed to resistant microbes in one country can easily spread them in other countries. For example, resistant strains of gonorrhea that originated in Asia and Africa have now spread throughout the world.-Steven Wharry, CMAJ