This crazy drive to sterilize is not health.
1
If you insist on hand sanitizer rather than actually washing your hands, please remember that the dispenser at the door of your sick friend's room is so you can use if BEFORE you enter, not after you leave. It is to protect the sick person from your germs, not protect you from your sick friend.
That is certainly what the nurses told us at New York Hospital when we were providing pro bono legal services to AIDS patients. I suppose if your sick friend has something particularly communicable and you had just taken a shower, it might be the other way around, but I doubt it.
That is certainly what the nurses told us at New York Hospital when we were providing pro bono legal services to AIDS patients. I suppose if your sick friend has something particularly communicable and you had just taken a shower, it might be the other way around, but I doubt it.
2
Forget the sanitizer, the only thing that will save this planet is a plague.
6
Just don't touch your face and you'll be fine....
3
"I’m not trying to be glib here." Apparently you can't help yourself.
I remember the days when the New York Times Magazine was a serious publication. Nearly everything in it was worth reading. Nowadays, it's about half fluff, like this piece. Another three minutes of my life I'll never get back.
I remember the days when the New York Times Magazine was a serious publication. Nearly everything in it was worth reading. Nowadays, it's about half fluff, like this piece. Another three minutes of my life I'll never get back.
12
Yes, along with its daily obsession with late-night television!
2
It's a defense in equity and I believe it's much more commonly expressed as "unclean hands."
3
Never used it. Would rather wash with soap and water, and just regular soap, not anti- bacterial. The alcohol level severely aggravates my daughters eczema as well. We need to think long and hard about the chemicals we expose ourselves too.
3
Kills 99.99% of germs.
Does that mean we are leaving the strongest 0.01% to reproduce?
Does that mean we are leaving the strongest 0.01% to reproduce?
12
I cheerfully use hand sanitizers under certain circumstances, and carry a bottle in my purse, though it rarely sees use.
I use it when visiting people in the hospital, as an adjunct to a good hand-washing. It's only for my sake peripherally, mostly because the people I'm visiting don't need to be exposed to the assortment of things I've contacted on the trip there. I just lost my father due to flu picked up during a hospitalization for his congestive heart failure.
I use hand sanitizer a lot at reptile shows, because some reptiles carry salmonella, and I also don't want to be a vector spreading things from one animal to another.
But for the most part, I've just learned to A) not touch my face when I'm out and about, an easy way to not contact mucous membranes, and B) wash my hands thoroughly when I come home and before I eat. It sometimes means I'm the only one left standing when the rest of the household is sick, but it is very effective, even when I worked in the front office at a medical practice.
I use it when visiting people in the hospital, as an adjunct to a good hand-washing. It's only for my sake peripherally, mostly because the people I'm visiting don't need to be exposed to the assortment of things I've contacted on the trip there. I just lost my father due to flu picked up during a hospitalization for his congestive heart failure.
I use hand sanitizer a lot at reptile shows, because some reptiles carry salmonella, and I also don't want to be a vector spreading things from one animal to another.
But for the most part, I've just learned to A) not touch my face when I'm out and about, an easy way to not contact mucous membranes, and B) wash my hands thoroughly when I come home and before I eat. It sometimes means I'm the only one left standing when the rest of the household is sick, but it is very effective, even when I worked in the front office at a medical practice.
1
I am more concerned about the plastic containers this stuff is packaged in. The production and waste of those little convenient bottles, is probably what will "Kill the Earth and its Germs".
11
If you've ever been on the subway and watched a straphanger wipe his nose with his hand and return it to the strap, you will be glad you have that bottle in your bag.
2
Actually, a few years ago, Purell ran a campaign in the New York City subway consisting of posters proclaiming the filth. It made me angry more than anything else. As a captive audience member required to take the subway, I already knew how gross the subway was and didn't welcome the reminder.
5
Fair point...the whole Lady Macbeth hand washing thing has gotten out of control. But it mostly took hold because it became clear that too many people in settings where it really matters, were giving it short shrift. I'm referring to health care settings, day care operations, restaurant and food prep facilities, etc. I admit to carrying a small bottle with me because often public restrooms are out of soap. But I don't see why the average office worker or shopper needs to Purell themselves obsessively.
1
Tim, is that you? Good to hear you're among the knowledgeable on this subject. Take care and use that sanitizer.
We were in Tanzania recently and one of the most offensive things I have ever seen in my life was other members of our group using hand sanitizer anytime they touched a native. This included after shaking hands with our guides and no, they didn't try to hide it. Shameful. And yes, I said so at the time.
31
From the NYTimes "Well" column on May 12, we see this:
"A 2008 study in The American Journal of Public Health concluded that improvements in hand hygiene, regardless of how the participants cleaned their hands, cut gastrointestinal diseases by 31 percent, and respiratory infections by 21 percent."
These results hold whether the person washed or sanitized their hands. So I'm wondering why the Letter of Complaint wasn't sent to the NYTimes Well column instead of to us.
"A 2008 study in The American Journal of Public Health concluded that improvements in hand hygiene, regardless of how the participants cleaned their hands, cut gastrointestinal diseases by 31 percent, and respiratory infections by 21 percent."
These results hold whether the person washed or sanitized their hands. So I'm wondering why the Letter of Complaint wasn't sent to the NYTimes Well column instead of to us.
14
Note "regardless how the participants cleaned their hands", sanitizers are a marketing trick. Simply use soap or soap dispensers and you are OK. Or not exactly OK, since you still have to cope with the remaining 69% of stomach infections and 79% of respiratory infections.
2
When I grew up in the 60's-70's, we were not so scrupulously clean about our food. Outdoor markets thrived, and there were no rubber gloves etc. used to dispense/serve food. I even camped out on a beach in Cali where people dined on food a couple of days old rescued from a Safeway dumpster, cooked, as I recall, over a bonfire. I, for one, was none the worse for the wear.; the meal was delicious.
Now, we are seeing many allergies break out in widespread patterns - some severe. I wonder if whatever dirt/germs I must surely have ingested in a more carefree time have not immunized and many like me. In short, maybe a little bit of everyday dirt is good for our health, and growing up unexposed renders us vulnerable. I, too, use Purell from time to time. But the mindset behind using it too often, not feeling safe unless one has a squirt, makes me a bit uncomfortable.
Now, we are seeing many allergies break out in widespread patterns - some severe. I wonder if whatever dirt/germs I must surely have ingested in a more carefree time have not immunized and many like me. In short, maybe a little bit of everyday dirt is good for our health, and growing up unexposed renders us vulnerable. I, too, use Purell from time to time. But the mindset behind using it too often, not feeling safe unless one has a squirt, makes me a bit uncomfortable.
15
The active ingredient in Purell is alcohol--dirt cheap.
Thjeir profit margin is humungous.
Whatever "germs" you kill will be back in a few minutes.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not better than soap/water!
It's a scam.
BB MD
Thjeir profit margin is humungous.
Whatever "germs" you kill will be back in a few minutes.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not better than soap/water!
It's a scam.
BB MD
29
I apply the active ingredient internally. Never get sick.
39
Loving it. I am a strong follower of cleansing myself internally as well. It is especially powerful when fermented with hops or grapes.
14
Well, at least it's better than a DUI. Lather up.
5
So the small per cent of these "germs" that all this hand sanitizing doesn't kill must be the resistant bacteria? Oh, wait...
9
I feel a little bit guilty when, at a networking event serving refreshments, I deny handshaking an outstretched palm with an offer of my fistbump. Am I being impolite?
3
Yes.
20
No. Emphatically. Hands are the chief instrument for spreading communicable diseases.
5
Absolutely
1
This is the kind of claptrap that results from non-scientists rambling on about subjects they know very little about.
What exactly is the author's problem with what is essentially rubbing alcohol in an aqueous gel?
And the comment writer above who is sure that since viruses aren't "alive" that they can't be killed?
ARGHHHH!
Hand sanitizer was not designed to save the world. It is designed to make your hands a little cleaner, on the run, without access to piped water. It works great.
What exactly is the author's problem with what is essentially rubbing alcohol in an aqueous gel?
And the comment writer above who is sure that since viruses aren't "alive" that they can't be killed?
ARGHHHH!
Hand sanitizer was not designed to save the world. It is designed to make your hands a little cleaner, on the run, without access to piped water. It works great.
35
perhaps if scientists had a better way to share their knowledge than "claptrap" and insults others would have a better understanding of their relationship to the natural world and where and how products like these may be useful. A scientific education is an enormous privilege not a bludgeon.
2
I've thought quite a about the "Purell" or more generally anti-germ obsession we seem to be going through during the last few years. It seems crazy to me and many of my contemporary "elderly" friends who grew up in areas where you could still play outside all the time, basically roll around in the dirt, etc. and nothing bad seemed to occur from it.
This may be to far fetched but it reminds me of my tenure as a lower court state judge who on occasion heard actual full trials about $10 parking tickets for instance. Obviously educated people would come in with diagrams, pictures of the areas, measurements and full presentations attempting to defeat a minor fine. I also saw what seemed to be a similar dynamic in many small claims cases.
I raise this because I think my observations then [10-15 years ago] also apply to the more current "germ" phobia.
It is as if the individual person feels they have no control over the major world/national events that are affecting them but by "protecting themselves from the germs" or winning a parking ticket dispute they are manifesting power over their lives in a world where it appears that so little we do personally matters in the major, significant events around us.
Now that I've written this it occurs to me that the large "anti-Trump" reactions and organizations represent the same feelings but in this case actually, on occasion, may make a difference. This makes me wonder if the "Purell" type sales are going down.
This may be to far fetched but it reminds me of my tenure as a lower court state judge who on occasion heard actual full trials about $10 parking tickets for instance. Obviously educated people would come in with diagrams, pictures of the areas, measurements and full presentations attempting to defeat a minor fine. I also saw what seemed to be a similar dynamic in many small claims cases.
I raise this because I think my observations then [10-15 years ago] also apply to the more current "germ" phobia.
It is as if the individual person feels they have no control over the major world/national events that are affecting them but by "protecting themselves from the germs" or winning a parking ticket dispute they are manifesting power over their lives in a world where it appears that so little we do personally matters in the major, significant events around us.
Now that I've written this it occurs to me that the large "anti-Trump" reactions and organizations represent the same feelings but in this case actually, on occasion, may make a difference. This makes me wonder if the "Purell" type sales are going down.
4
However, many cultures do have hand washing rituals, especially before and after eating. At Japanese restaurants, customers are given hot towels to clean their hands off before the meal. I'm not crazy about Purell, but I do carry around little bottle of hand sanitizer and suffer from less colds and sinus infections as a result. I don't know if hand sanitizers really carry all the metaphorical weight the author intends.
6
FEWER colds & sinus infections.
10
or 'suffer less from colds and sinus infections' (though the meaning is subtly different).
3
I work out three days a week at my local university's rec center. There are bottles of spray and towels all over, with signs asking patrons to wipe down equipment both before and after use. Having grown up in a very rural area where we played in the dirt nearly every day I've never been a particular "germophobe." Consequently, I never use the spray but I do at least wipe my sweat off things using my own towel. Others, however, are extremely meticulous, making sure to access every possible nook or cranny with the spray provided.
One day I decided to read the bottle label. It advised wearing a face mask and gloves during use! Good heavens, the spray might actually be more dangerous than any "germs" that could be lurking on the equipment.
One day I decided to read the bottle label. It advised wearing a face mask and gloves during use! Good heavens, the spray might actually be more dangerous than any "germs" that could be lurking on the equipment.
18
I don't see how playing in the dirt is even comparable to touching surfaces like subway stairway bannisters, or gym equipment. Yuk! ... And BTW, a cold can make you miserable for well over a week, not a day or two.
3
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/health/03brod.html
"Recreational athletes as well as participants in organized sports are prone to fungal, viral and bacterial skin infections. Sweat, abrasion and direct or indirect contact with the lesions and secretions of others combine to make every athlete’s skin vulnerable to a host of problems. While MRSA may be the most serious skin infection, athlete’s foot, jock itch, boils, impetigo, herpes simplex and ringworm, among others, are not exactly fun or attractive."
"Recreational athletes as well as participants in organized sports are prone to fungal, viral and bacterial skin infections. Sweat, abrasion and direct or indirect contact with the lesions and secretions of others combine to make every athlete’s skin vulnerable to a host of problems. While MRSA may be the most serious skin infection, athlete’s foot, jock itch, boils, impetigo, herpes simplex and ringworm, among others, are not exactly fun or attractive."
2
Someone brought a bottle of the stuff into my office and put it on the table where I work with my clients. She smiled and I thanked her, dutifully. Then threw the thing into the waste basket. I'm "germ" proof. Followed my grandmother's instructions to "eat a pound of dirt before I die," and am still happy and healthy at nearly 80.
Slightly even more ridiculous are the plastic gloves food workers wear. Watch for a few moments the people working in the deli departments of your favorite supermarket. They're wearing gloves, but not only do they not change them each time they serve a customer, they scratch their itches, rub their noses, arrange their hair, and pick up stuff dropped on the floor with them on. Not a sight for the timorous among us.
Slightly even more ridiculous are the plastic gloves food workers wear. Watch for a few moments the people working in the deli departments of your favorite supermarket. They're wearing gloves, but not only do they not change them each time they serve a customer, they scratch their itches, rub their noses, arrange their hair, and pick up stuff dropped on the floor with them on. Not a sight for the timorous among us.
28
But THEY probably have fewer colds! Ever think of THAT?
1
There are times I really need to use hand sanitizer. After I use the pen to sign the screen at the pharmacy and after touching the keypad to input info for a transaction in a store. Those are filthy germ covered areas that NEVER get cleaned. That and airplane seat back tables.
16
Your use of the word "need" is what this article is talking about.
4
Unlike soap and water, sanitizers quickly dry in the air without leaving a residue, making them much more convenient. I love that they are around. How many times have you noted people leaving bathrooms without using soap and water? A lot, right? I do think we over clean, I do think we particularly over-sanitize our homes and that it can be unhealthy for kids. But, out in the public, they are great.
7
Whatever did we do before Purell? The irrational need to constantly sanitize is likely more dangerous than the occasional microbe. The chemicals in the sanitizer, the long term impacts on our immune systems and a host of other issues may well over time do way, way more harm than good.
11
At a cousin's bar mitzvah the goodie bag given to guests contained Purell, along with the usual cookies and yarmulke.
A few months later, at the bedside of a friend dying of melanoma at Sloan Kettering, a very large pump bottle of Purell was on the bedside table.
Agreed: Purell is more an IDEA of cleanliness, of facing a clean future, or cleaning off disease, than an actual way to get clean. A liquid talisman.
A few months later, at the bedside of a friend dying of melanoma at Sloan Kettering, a very large pump bottle of Purell was on the bedside table.
Agreed: Purell is more an IDEA of cleanliness, of facing a clean future, or cleaning off disease, than an actual way to get clean. A liquid talisman.
6
"When we don’t trust one another to wash our hands sufficiently with soap, we’re just living out a very basic version of our mistrust."
What does this sentence mean? That we don't trust other people to wash their hands, or that we don't trust that ourselves to wash our own hands?
If it's the former, I for one don't give a hoot if someone doesn't wash their hands. If it's the latter, I do trust myself to wash my own hands. And if I'm in restaurant and there's a line in the bathroom, I will definitely use hand sanitizer to at least get the dirt off.
So I don't see why that means that "we’re just living out a very basic version of our mistrust." I do trust others, especially those I know well, and I do trust myself. Is that so bizarre? This column seems like you're trying to make some metaphorical mountain out of a molehill.
What does this sentence mean? That we don't trust other people to wash their hands, or that we don't trust that ourselves to wash our own hands?
If it's the former, I for one don't give a hoot if someone doesn't wash their hands. If it's the latter, I do trust myself to wash my own hands. And if I'm in restaurant and there's a line in the bathroom, I will definitely use hand sanitizer to at least get the dirt off.
So I don't see why that means that "we’re just living out a very basic version of our mistrust." I do trust others, especially those I know well, and I do trust myself. Is that so bizarre? This column seems like you're trying to make some metaphorical mountain out of a molehill.
7
Every time I see one of those dispensers I start thinking about the rumors of the resistant "germs" that grow in the wake of all this stuff. In my family, we picked up the food that fell on the floor (clumsy childish hands) and ate it with PRIDE. We just knew that ingesting and digesting those germs made us STRONG!
9
More unsettling is when I come upon a public restroom equated with a Purell dispenser. It only confirms to me what public health experts already know. Very few people actually know or bother washing their hands correctly. That dab of soap and three second splash of water isn't doing much of anything.
7
Another bit of ignorance. I worked in a medical school and use the sanitizers there to protect the people with weakened immune systems that we serve. There is no known benefit for people who are healthy.
22
I agree about "germs"-- meaningless. Viruses are not alive so Purell can't "kill" them (nor is it likely to have much effect on fungal spores). And since the common cold is caused by a virus, it won't save you from that either.
23
Some viruses are inactivated by alcohol, which is the active ingredient in Purell. These "envelope viruses" are surrounded by lipid membranes that come from the cells they last infected. The ethanol disrupts the structure of lipid membranes. While the cold is not caused by an envelope virus, the flu is.