I think I’d still be happier to see people washing (rinsing?) their hands, even if they are eschewing the anti-bacterial soap; especially if said people are later going to be preparing food, or offering to shake hands with someone. I am an advocate of the washing of the hands after (ahem) the doing of the business. :)

Most of the soap you find nowadays in public (and home) restrooms is anti-bacterial soap. The primary ingredient in these soaps that is anti-bacterial is triclosan. At least one study I know of has shown that triclosan causes abnormal growth and development in frogs.

Additionally, killing all those bacteria is not necessarily a good thing. Anti-biotics have been used for years to do this same thing internally and we are now finding all kinds of new antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. Using triclosan based soap on your hands may actually be breeding super bacteria that are resistant to triclosan.

Additionally, many of the bacteria in your body (and also on your hands) are beneficial. When you take anti-biotics, you destroy all the beneficial bacteria in your gut and then the bad bacteria are free to proliferate. Same on your hands. If you kill all the good bacteria, then the bad ones are left to proliferate and none of the good ones to keep the bad ones in check.

So while it may not be a bad idea to wash your hands, don’t use the anti-bacterial soap you find in nearly all bathrooms nowadays.