Something's Rotten

A popular bathroom deodorant advertises "kills bacteria that cause odors." So using it will kill some bacteria that cause odors -- the weak ones. The few strong ones that survive will multiply and will become the dominant bacteria. Over time, we have bacteria that are invulnerable to all the sprays, antiseptics, antibiotics etc.

And as for bad odors -- our noses are sensitive to bad odors, they were designed that way to keep us from eating rotting stuff and dying. Sensitivity to bad odors saves a lot of refrigerator browsers from trips to the hospital. Smell the milk to see if it's sour before taking a big lumpy swig. Smell the eggs when you break them to see if they've rotted. Smell that packaged chicken that's been in the refrigerator for a week or so and you can tell if it's "beginning to turn."

What's wrong with this deodorant picture? The bathroom deodorant that "kills bacteria that causes odors" is like a boot camp for bacteria. The weak ones die and what emerges are stronger more resistant bacteria and they reproduce, or whatever it is that bacteria do, building back in a few minutes new generations of newly resistant strains. Filling the house with perfume covers a multitude of stinks. Run a bathroom fan instead. Wash the bacteria down the drain. Keep bacteria weak. if something stinks, clean it up.

Bacteria are organisms that are trying to survive. They've been around a long time, are very adaptable, and their numbers are staggering. So nobody's ever successfully committed bacterial genocide. Some of the really deadly ones -- like polio and the black death -- have been attacked relentlessly and have retreated to swamps or jungles to bide their time and pick on stupider hosts. Like people spraying around mildly antiseptic perfume bombs to kill bacteria.