Posted on 09/07/2013 8:07:09 AM PDT by EBH
AKRON, Ohio -- Here's something that might send you dashing back to the washroom: Microbiologists at GOJO Industries and other institutions have discovered that a quarter of the soap in public restrooms is so contaminated that it leaves your hands filthier than before you washed them.
In fact, some of the soap they tested contained so much fecal matter that you're almost better off washing your hands in the toilet after you flush it, said Charles P. Gerba, professor of microbiology in the University of Arizona's Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science.
GOJO, the company that invented Purell hand sanitizer, has launched a public awareness campaign called Gojo.com/NoMoreBulkSoap to not only warn consumers about the hazards of using dirty soap, but also to convince businesses, airports, shopping centers, restaurants, and schools to quit using some soap dispensers altogether...
... Turns out that washing with dirty soap could leave your hands with "25 times more (potentially harmful) gram-negative bacteria after washing than before washing with contaminated soap," Shumaker said. "You could end up going into a public restroom and coming out dirtier than you were before."
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
Hey, ladies, this is anecdotal but I’d estimate that only 60% of men wash their hands before exiting the bathroom.
Oh there is no such thing as dirty soap unless they mean a bar of soap that someone did not rinse off after using. But soap itself is not dirty especially liquid soap in a container.
The soap itself is contaminated.
i like germs ... and i like to spread ‘em around!
I caught ‘em from liberals and then I shake hands with RINOs.
Liquid soap is usually made from a concentrate that’s diluted with tap water and poured into smaller containers used to refill the soap dispensers. Some cleaning companies may be diluting that concentrate more than recommended to save money, making them less effective against germs.
Gerba found one supplier who was reusing a 30-gallon barrel to mix the soap, and discovered “at the bottom was a half-inch of slime” that no one knew how long had been there.
Commercial soaps contain preservatives designed to inhibit the growth of harmful microbes, but scientists suspect that those preservatives break down over time. And it doesn’t seem to matter whether the soap dispenser is made out of plastic or stainless steel.
Yes, the BS meter is screaming on this one.
Yes, people shouldn’t be that nutty about hand washing. They are causing more resistant germs, as you say. A little dirt is good for the immune system.
Read the article...it is the soap, not just the dispenser.
ive been saying that for years and telling my family to try to find soap that is NOT antibacterial.
all that antibacterial stuff is decreasing our resistance to everything.
unless you have someone in your home who is immuno-comprimised, you should be using regular soaps.
oh, and studies show that hand sanitizer does NOTHING
The dispenser is contaminated also the water added to concentrated soap product is a ideal environment for bacterial growth. Regular soap whether bar or liquid is not a problem there have been numerous studies proving this. There is also the question of whether “soap” in those dispensers is actually soap or a detergent. Most likely it is a detergent or a combination of soap and detergent.
Per the FDA a product is soap only “when the bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids and the product’s detergent properties are due to the alkali-fatty acid compound.” Simply put this is what happens when a base (Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide) are added to and acid (animal or vegetable fats (fatty acids) to form a salt (which is soap). Trust me bacteria does not thrive in true soap. The average ph of soap is 8.
Pee from a healthy bladder is sterile ( germ free).
The soap may not even be soap. Most likely it is a detergent or a mixture of soap and detergent.
The Yale fellow finishes and goes to the sink to wash his hands. A few moments later to Harvard man gives himself a good shake, zips up and starts walking out the door.
“Hey” the Yale man says. “At Yale we wash our hands after we go to the bathroom.”
The Harvard man doesn't miss a beat. “At Harvard we don't p!ss on out hands” he says over his shoulder as he scoots out the door.
All the soap I've seen in public restrooms for the last 20 years comes in a collapsible plastic bag, and is squirted out of that bag without even air going back into it.
Before accepting the results of someones dubious study, ask yourself just how exactly soap in such a container could possible get contaminated.
I'm not buying it.
Yes it is. True soap does not become contaminated. What becomes contaminated is the water that was used to dilute a bulk concentrated “soap” product which most likely is not 100% true soap at all. If the water becomes contaminated what it dilutes will obviously also get contaminated. It is the water that is the medium for bacteria not soap.
Also it is the dispenser knob that gets contaminated.
Remember those cloth towel machines in mens bathrooms next to the pay toilets?
There is considerable deception in this article. As background:
1) Ordinary water will remove about 60% of the bacterial contamination on hands. This is because most contamination is found in visible contamination and skin oil.
2) Using ordinary soap will remove about 90% contamination, because it washes off both visible contamination, greases and skin oil.
3) Antibacterial soap only performs marginally better than ordinary soap. But again, it’s purpose is to eliminate the visible contamination the bacteria lives in, not really to kill the bacteria themselves.
4) Hand sanitizer is best when there is no visible contamination on the hands. It must as a minimum be 60% alcohol. Most are 62%. But it can be augmented with more alcohol up to about 75-80%, safely. Any more than that, and the shock might put bacteria into a “protected mode”, safe from alcohol.
So the bottom line is that even using contaminated soap is better if your hands have visible contamination. Then once the visible stuff is gone, dry your hands and use hand sanitizer.
You touch the dispenser knob before you wash your hands.
So how does fecal matter get up into the collapsible plastic bag that holds the soap? That would be some trick.
I’m just not buying it.
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