Antibacterial soaps have been growing in popularity, and I can't remember the last time I went into a home with children where there wasn't a bottle of the stuff on every sink. I'm always reluctant to use it, fueled by a strange gut feeling that I'm better off learning to cope with the bacteria that surround me. Now there's some scientific back-up for my anti-antibacterial sentiments: new research found that as much as 75 percent of the chemicals used to make these products are emerging unharmed from sewage treatment plants, ending up in water supplies and subsequently used to irrigate farmland.

Betcha never thought a banana could perform the same function as a sewage plant. Well, think again. At an biolab in Massachusetts, researchers are experimenting with