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N.C. study: Germs can't fight soap, water Researchers test hand-washing methods The Associated Press Posted on Sat, Mar. 12, 2005 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Mom was right. A new study by infection-control specialists at UNC Hospitals confirms that the best way to get germs off your hands is with plain old soap and water. The researchers tested 14 hand-hygiene agents plus tap water against specific bacteria and viruses applied to the hands of 62 adult volunteers. Soap and water, or microbial soap and water, proved the most effective at removing viruses and bacteria. "Based on these findings, I'd put my...

LOS ANGELES -- A woman whose baby was found dead in a washing machine after a house fire was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder, police said. Firefighters found the body of Latunga Starks' 3-month-old boy Monday after putting out a fire that gutted the kitchen and rear bedroom of a home in Los Angeles.

German priest brews beer in washing machine A German priest has found a way to brew beer in his washing machine. Michael Fey, 45, of Duisburg built a computer interface into the machine to let it run an automatic brewing programme. It consists of turning and heating, but no spinning, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports. "A priest without alcohol, that's the wrong combination," he argued. "Jesus didn't say, take this healthy camomile tea, he offered wine." The priest brews 30 litres every six weeks, the legal limit for home brewing, and says he was inspired by the tradition of monks who...

Produce 'washes' as effective as water Wednesday, January 1, 2003 By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer SACRAMENTO -- Commercially marketed "produce washes" that claim great efficiency in removing pesticide residue from vegetables are in fact not much more effective than plain tap water, according to a new study by University of California, Riverside, researchers. Robert Krieger, a toxicologist with the university's extension office, was intrigued reading advertising that such washes are as much as 10 times more effective than water -- claims he determined are a mathematical impossibility because water itself is so efficient. The research comes amid increased consumer...