Today's Wall St. Journal has an eye-opening story by Dexter Webb about the results of a recent Harris Poll of daily household-cleaning habits in American homes. According to the story, "nearly 46% of the respondents said they have never sanitized their toothbrush, although it is recommended that you do so daily using peroxide or mouthwash, to protect against germs from the toilet bowl." Huh? I don't use my toothbrush to clean my toilet bowl, so what's that all about?
"Fecal matter and bacteria, it turns out, can spray as much as 20 feet upward when a toilet is flushed. So remember to lower the seat cover, and keep toothbrushes off the counter." But wait a minute. If you lower the cover BEFORE you flush, then the cover will become a shit-and-piss coated backrest for when you're just sitting there, reading the paper blissfully and chillin'. I'll leave the seat up when I flush, thank you very much, and continue taking my chances with my shit-covered, right-out-on-the-counter toothbrush.
"Moving into the kitchen, research has found kitchen sponges and scrubbers to be the single most infectious source of germs in the home. Not only do they provide the warm, humid, moist conditions on which germs thrive, but they also accumulate food particles, in particular meat and vegetable debris, which can be loaded with harmful organisms."
What a Dirty Bertie I am!
Oh, you want more? OK, then, read "The Secret Life of Germs," by Philip Tierno, the guy who directed the Harris survey. Then go shoot yourself, 'cause you won't be able to go on living in this world with the level of fear you'll be carrying around. Buffalo Springfield had this covered decades ago:
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line
The man come and take you away
Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
Yeah, and you know what? I read an article last year saying that the anti-bacterial soap is bad for us because while it is killing all sorts of bacteria, our body is getting too used to not having even small amounts of certain bad things in our bodies. So then when something bigger comes along, we go into a more traumatic shock to the system. So, in other words the cleaner you are, the sicker you will get when you do finally catch something.
The way I see it, unless you are drinking out of the toilet bowl and/or washing dishes with your butt, you are probably ok. I only use sponges to get off grime before I put the dishes in the dishwasher anyway.
2 - Chris Arabia
how is this going to make my life better?
3 - Joe
I've got a nice big bucket of Colonel Sanders, anybody want some?
4 - Eric Olsen
clearly the answer is the return of outhouses, which a small but perspicacious percentage of our population was wise enough to never forsake in the first place. Who brushes their teeth in an outhouse?
5 - duane
I try to keep my toothbrush free of bathroom detritus by giving it a good daily scrubbing with the brillo pad I keep next to my kitchen sink. This has the simultaneous effect of removing food particulates, grime, grease, gook, gunk, and other unwelcome kitchen sink denizens from the brillo.
6 - jadester
i take a different approach - the odd late-night kebab or pork pie or sausage (here in england, most sausages are not entirely meat, technically =+) is enough to make your digestive system become much more resistant to germs and bacteria. Or so it seems. That and a liberal amount of alcohol
7 - Taloran
Not to nitpick, but Buffalo Springfield was talking about the results of civil disobedience during the Vietnam war. The point about paranoia is taken. Great article! Gave me a good belly laugh.
8 - Eric Olsen
I have also read about the prevalence of ambiant poop at daycare
9 - Mac Diva
The other day, the women's restroom was out of order at a Starbucks. So, I was told to use the men's room. Immediately upon opening the door I was assailed by the odor of urine, and possibly worse. There was pee-soiled toilet paper and seat covers on the floor. It looked as if men had been urinating directly on to the floor. The toilet was full and unflushed. I asked the manager if the men and women's rooms were cleaned equally often, since I had never seen such a mess in the women's room. She said yes, but there seems to be a gender difference in hygiene. It made we wonder.
10 - Phillip Winn
It could also be that the manager was misinformed. I've cleaned bathrooms before, and I've talked to others who do it far more regularly than I. The sins are different, but both male and female bathroom cleaners I know tend to say that overall women are harder to clean up after.
Me, I don't believe it, because men are pigs, but I'm just pointing out that you can't generalize based on a single Starbucks episode - or a man in your past. I'm a very clean man working in an office with mostly very clean men and one slob. His wife probably has a very dim view of men's hygiene. ;-)