I feel like a ban is heavy handed. If the government came out with an educational campaign that informed consumers of the dangers of our collective usage of antibacterial soaps and general ineffectiveness I think that would be enough to prevent their widespread usage.
Smoking rates may be declining due to public smoking bans limiting the number of places one is even allowed to smoke. At some point, quitting makes more sense than planning ones day around designated smoking areas.
I don't know that that's true; there's nothing that would stop the antibacterial soap companies putting out advertisements that explained why the government is wrong, similar to what happened with vitamin supplements in the 90s.
