An odd question

[JRmom]

I really think our society is totally overdoing it with all the antibacterial cleaning products, bleach, etc. for home use. Geesh, how in the heck are kids going to build up immunities if everything is super sanitized? Have you all seen the commercial now for one-use disposable hand towels for the bathroom? It's not good enough any more to wash your hands and dry them on a regular towel.

 

[abifae]

They've done studies that show if you kill the GOOD bacteria, the BAD bacteria spread in. Because the good bacteria actually fight off the nasties FOR YOU.

So really, bleach is for sterilization only. It makes no sense for just cleaning.

 

[bjmstahl]

I work in the Department of Microbiology at Miami University in Oxford, OH. They teach a lab in which students swab different areas of the building and grow the cultures in petri dishes. They find the most germs on the handles of the doors and hand railings in the stairwells.

 

[Leta]

This is the whole germ theory of disease versus milieu theory of immunity.

Seriously, read about Pasteur and Bernard sometime. They were both right, but only Pasteur's (admittedly formidable) accomplishments are well known outside scientific circles. Which is why advertisers prey on germophobia.

Short answer: that which does not kill you really does make you stronger. Really. Most of us live lives that are way too clean. If I ever get a chance to actually put my post secondary education to work, I'm designing a public health campaign that goes:

"Filth: Protecting Humanity from Disease Since the Dawn of Time"

or something.

 

[moolie]

This is the whole germ theory of disease versus milieu theory of immunity.

Seriously, read about Pasteur and Bernard sometime. They were both right, but only Pasteur's (admittedly formidable) accomplishments are well known outside scientific circles. Which is why advertisers prey on germophobia.

Short answer: that which does not kill you really does make you stronger. Really. Most of us live lives that are way too clean. If I ever get a chance to actually put my post secondary education to work, I'm designing a public health campaign that goes:

"Filth: Protecting Humanity from Disease Since the Dawn of Time"

or something.

Indeed--most people who live in countries where basic sanitation is not up to western standards are immune to polio and other horrible diseases that our western love of all things sanitary has made deadly to us.

I've read about studies where people who seldom wipe their kitchen work tops actually harbour less harmful bacteria in their kitchens than people who are always damp wiping them with dishcloths. Bacteria like a warm moist environment.

 

[abifae]

Yeppers. I horrify folk who are germaphobes. *cracks up*

 

[hoosier]

I really think our society is totally overdoing it with all the antibacterial cleaning products, bleach, etc. for home use. Geesh, how in the heck are kids going to build up immunities if everything is super sanitized? Have you all seen the commercial now for one-use disposable hand towels for the bathroom? It's not good enough any more to wash your hands and dry them on a regular towel.

ditto

 

[curly_kate]

I really think our society is totally overdoing it with all the antibacterial cleaning products, bleach, etc. for home use. Geesh, how in the heck are kids going to build up immunities if everything is super sanitized? Have you all seen the commercial now for one-use disposable hand towels for the bathroom? It's not good enough any more to wash your hands and dry them on a regular towel.

That commercial drives me crazy! How wasteful!! The one that really kills me is the 'touchless' soap dispenser. If you are WASHING YOUR HANDS, why does it matter if there are germs on the soap dispenser???

 

[so lucky]

My DIL is a major clean freak. I think she feels our house is too dirty for her to be in. Really! She and her kids are always catching something. Everytime we talk on the phone, somebody has a virus of some sort. Coincidence??

 

[hoosier]

I really think our society is totally overdoing it with all the antibacterial cleaning products, bleach, etc. for home use. Geesh, how in the heck are kids going to build up immunities if everything is super sanitized? Have you all seen the commercial now for one-use disposable hand towels for the bathroom? It's not good enough any more to wash your hands and dry them on a regular towel.

That commercial drives me crazy! How wasteful!! The one that really kills me is the 'touchless' soap dispenser. If you are WASHING YOUR HANDS, why does it matter if there are germs on the soap dispenser???

I have the same reaction.

I will admit to being somewhat of a germaphobe, but not around my own house.
My phobias kick in when in public places. It gags me when I see people put their children's food directly on the table in McDonalds, etc. I once heard a mom clamly telling her toddler over and over not to play in the toilet.