Scientists Discover That Antimicrobial Wipes and Soaps May Be Making You (and Society) Sick
05 Jul 2011 2 Comments
in Articles, Scientific American
A few weeks ago as I was walking out of a Harris Teeter grocery store in Raleigh, North Carolina, I saw a man face a moment of crisis. You could see it in the acrobatic contortions of his face. He had pulled a cart out of the area where carts congregate, only to find that its handle was sticky with an unidentifiable substance. He paused and looked at the handle, as if to imagine the nature of the offense. Gum? Meat juice? Chewed marshmallows? So many vulgar possibilities. Forlorn, he reached for an antibiotic wipe conveniently placed by the door. He scrubbed his hands VERY diligently and then pushed the cart back for someone else to rediscover [1].
Scenarios like this one are playing out all over America. There is an epidemic of sticky, dirty and otherwise gross handles on shopping carts. But it isn’t just carts.
Jul 07, 2011 @ 03:46:19
Dear Rob
Compliments on the thoughtful article on antimicrobial wipes and soaps. Decades ago, as a student of microbiology, out of curiosity, we did a study on cleaning ‘vegetables’ with Potassium Permanganate (as was the practice then) and plain water and compared the bacterial flora and counts. To our surprise, we found that using the ‘disinfectant’ reduced total bacterial counts but what remained were pathogens like E. coli. In short, we destroyed the normal flora which in turn would have prevented the pathogens from growing.
The same is the story with the disinfectant soaps which you have wonderfully articualated. How do we educate the public who are constantly bombarded with advertisements from marketing geniuses on using antibacterial wipes and soaps? How do we can large corporates to think about the future rather than short term financial gains?
Rajvi
Dr. Rajvi H Mehta, PhD
Mumbai, India
Jul 12, 2011 @ 19:50:52
I searched for antimicrobial and I found your blog. I really like it. Keep going – well done!