Antibiotics don’t work on humans. They work on bacteria in humans. Your sentiment is generally correct for most other types of medical research, but antibiotics generally pass the human testing fairly easily, provided that they don’t also kill the human they’re tested on.

Don't be so tiresome. They obviously mean that they hope that the drugs don't kill or excessively harm the human.

Antibiotics that kill cilia or kidneys or livers are doing something or other to humans, in addition to working on microorganisms.

I had the exact same thought.

The R&D landscape is littered with antibiotics that kill bacteria but can’t be used in humans.

Couldn't these be still used as sanitation agents?

Oh hell no! AFAIK, though I'm no expert, resistance to antibiotic x may give partial resistance to antibiotic y.

Or worse "Resistance to triclosan [not an antibiotic] could lead to resistance to other biocides or antibiotics." https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/opinions_l...

Indeed I think this may have been confirmed now.

Heat and/or simple chemicals have to be a better option.

Edit: that study cited is outdated, this is more current and less 'maybe': https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041201... is more recent.