diff --git a/include/layout.inc b/include/layout.inc
index f66187b70..28e27ee99 100644
--- a/include/layout.inc
+++ b/include/layout.inc
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ function sect_to_file($string) {
 }
 
 function clean($var) {
-  return htmlspecialchars(get_magic_quotes_gpc() ? stripslashes($var) : $var, ENT_QUOTES);
+  return htmlspecialchars($var, ENT_QUOTES);
 }
 
 // Clean out the content of one user note for printing to HTML