Think scrubbing extra hard with an antibacterial soap is good for your health? Think again.

It turns out that kind of soap isn't necessarily best at removing all the germs, according to 11-year-old Sydney Lukus, a sixth-grader at Evans City Middle School in Seneca Valley School District.

"I wanted to explore the controversy about antibacterial soaps and their effect on bacteria resistance," Sydney said.

She conducted a project called "Is Greener Cleaner? The Dirty Truth About Hand Soaps." The project earned her overall Junior Division Student Winner at the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair held April 4-5 at Heinz Field.

She also won first place in the Junior Consumer Science Division and received a sponsor award from the Allegheny County Medical Society Alliance and a collegiate award from Chatham College.

Sydney will be recognized, along with the winners of the Intermediate and Senior Divisions, at the Carnegie Science Awards tomorrow at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.

More than 1,000 students from 100 schools in Western Pennsylvania competed for the awards.

The goal of her project was to test at least three common hand soaps sold in stores to see which was better at removing bacteria. She used Tom's of Maine Natural Moisturizing Lavender hand soap, Pomegranate Mango SoftSoap and antibacterial SoftSoap. Sydney tested the soaps by using the bacteria found on a dollar bill and ground beef. She contaminated her hands with the items and then washed with each soap. She then took swabs of her hands to see how much bacteria remained.

"The natural soap actually worked better, and that's what I was expecting to see happen," she said. "I suspect it's because there are no artificial additives in the natural soap."

Sydney said one of the goals of her project was to prove that triclosan, a common agent added to antibacterial soaps, did more harm than good.

"It's the main ingredient in antibacterial soaps, and it's not very good for the environment," she said. "It's [an antimicrobial] pesticide, and it's harmed fish and caused numerous fertility problems and birth defects in fish. I wanted to see if adding the triclosan was really necessary."

Sydney said her research was difficult and time-consuming, taking her roughly two weeks to complete.

To be considered for the award, she had to give an oral presentation before judges at Heinz Field during the competition. She also had to keep detailed notes on her findings, which also were reviewed by judges.

As one of the contest winners, Sydney also has been nominated for the 2008 Society for Science and the Public Middle School Program, held in October in Washington, D.C. It is the only national competition that is designed for fifth- through eighth-graders.

As part of her placement in the Pittsburgh Regional Science Fair, Sydney also will travel to Atlanta this month to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.