I keep saying this. The silly germaphobes with their anti-bacterial everything are going to kill us all. They’re breeding superbugs that will be resistant to all our efforts to wipe them out (the superbugs that is, not the germaphobes) and at the same time they are breeding children that have less resistance due to being raised in super clean environments.
But now scientists have discovered another way that germ-phobia can hurt us. A chemical in anti-bacterial soaps can impair muscle function.
Listen people; I’m not saying we need to all live like pigs but just plain, ordinary soap is not only good enough, it’s better for us. The problem is, it’s hard to find just plain, ordinary soap anymore. Everything is antibacterial.
August 17th, 2012 - 7:42 am
Also, some of the alcohols in hand sanitizers are extremely drying…and dry skin is more likely to crack…and cracked skin allows bacteria to enter where intact skin does not. (I’m REALLY sensitive to a lot of the chemicals in those things so I don’t use them. I’m more afraid of some chemical contaminants than I am of most bacteria anyway).
During the swine flu panhysteria they installed hand-sanitizer dispensers all over campus, including in the lab rooms: where there are already sinks and soap and paper towels. I make a big deal about how it’s a good idea to wash your hands after lab but a certain percentage of the people just use the hand sanitizer instead, I suppose they think it’s easier.
August 17th, 2012 - 7:55 am
I hate the germ-phobia sub-culture you see in some places. Like, you’re not supposed to touch the restroom doorknob with your bare hands. And some people can get really militant about it – like you’re committing some horrible atrocity if you do things the way people have always done them for your whole life.
August 17th, 2012 - 9:49 am
Fun fact about doorknobs, including those on restroom doors: They’re made of brass. Brass (or rather, the copper in the brass) kills bacteria. Even stainless steel doorknobs will kill bacteria, by virtue of them being cold and barren surfaces. Toilet seats, doorknobs, and other such hard smooth surfaces are bad places to survive if you’re a lowly bacterium – too cold, nothing to eat, and in case of brass doorknobs, slightly toxic.
So go ahead and lick that restroom doorknob. You’ll be fine. Another interesting thing about brass, as in brass keys – they have lead in them. Probably shouldn’t eat your keys.
As for the germophobe thing, I need to look no farther than my own household to see it as a problem. My poor wife gets every bug that comes along. I might get sick for a day or two, every couple of years.