Not really. It's just soap but it seems to be the strongest, soapiest dish detergent on the market. It has been used to quell killer bee infestations from South America, to kill fire ants and their huge nests, and to kill intestinal/external parasites.
It does all this by dissolving the natural, protective oils on these creature's bodies, allowing bacteria to do the rest of the dirty work. From what I've read, when their oils are dissolved this leaves them horribly vulnerable to environmental bacterias that kill them pretty quickly.
I have worked in three veterinary clinics and Dawn dish detergent was always on hand. It cuts grease and gets things out of animal hair, like the smell of skunk, motor oil, and it is what we used on a cat that had pesticide dumped on it accidentally. I know they used it to clean the birds that were exposed to oil in the ocean. I think it cuts grease better than the other detergents.
I find it to be an essential product at my home. It is the cheapest dish detergent to use and I also use it to spot treat clothes for spot removal (I use home made laundry detergent however). I make a lot of homemade cleaning products and it is a good thing to have on hand at home as well. I consider it a "staple." I'm a big fan of that product.
They also use a drop or two of dish soap whenever you are spraying anything (fertilizer to insecticides) that you want to stick to the leaves or hairs of what you are spraying.
Dish soap also works well as a wetting agent when a little squirt is added to your scald water when processing chickens and turkeys.
We bartered for 5 gallons of BioPac dish soap several years ago. It is fine, and has lasted us an age.
I wanted one of those foaming soap dispensers for the kitchen. I had a coupon, so I bought a Dawn Direct Foam container. Of course, I just used the soap inside until it was emptied and I could put the BioPac in it. I didn't like it very much, it smelled terrible.
A couple days later, I was washing out a Ziploc bag, and I was like, "Wow, this was easier than normal. Cut right through the greasiness inside the bag. Is it because I used a brand new dishcloth..." then I looked up at the smirking Dawn container. It's true. Dawn really gets the grease.
The Direct Foam smells like it belongs on a janitorial cart, though. I have a couple of big bottles of regular blue Dawn stockpiled, and when you dilute it way down and put it in the Direct Foam container, it smells fine.
Ditto, ditto, ditto!
I didn't care for one of the Dawns...maybe the one with bleach? It's been so long I can't remember. I use the clear Dawn now, Pure Essentials. I like the smell better than the blue, and I also have it watered down in the foam dispensers.
I'll buy generic or store brand on some other stuff, but it's gotta be Dawn!
Somewhere I read that you can get cheap $2 foam dispensers at the dollar store, but I haven't needed a new one yet.