Answer 1:
Some antiseptics contain triclosan or triclocarbon
and the ones that do are labeled. It’s
controversial whether they can lead to resistant
bacteria, though there are bacteria that are
resistant to these antimicrobials. Most
alcohol-based sanitizers do not contain these
compounds because the alcohol is enough to kill
microbes on its own. They’re usually in
water-based soaps like hand soap. The way
triclosan works is that it inhibits fatty acid
synthesis which is important for making cell
membranes. The enzyme that it targets is in
bacteria, but not humans so we aren’t affected.
With alcohol-based sanitizers, the alcohol
disrupts cell membranes directly leading to death
in a wide range of organisms, even including
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