Public Toilets are Cleaner Than Shopping Carts

[onehandle]

Yep. If I have to use a cart, I use those sanitary wipes you find at the entryway and I never, ever use the upper basket part where moms stick their dirty diaper babies.

It's disgusting. I use a hand basket most of the time.
_____________________________________

What's worse than sticking your hand down a public toilet? Gripping a shopping cart, apparently. A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona found that of 87 shopping cart handles examined, 72 percent had markers for fecal matter. And of those 87 carts, 36 had E. coli. Just how bad is that?

"That's more than you find in a supermarket's restroom," said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. "That's because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts."

That's bad. And what about reusable shopping bags? According to Gerba:

"It's like wearing the same underwear every day."

http://ca.gawker.com/5774200/public-toilets-are-cleaner-than-shopping-carts

[Orrex]

1. But just try to wheel the port-o-potty through the "12 items or less" lane

[LaurenG]

2. ***

:spray:

[rfranklin]

3. have you visited the public toilets in Port Authority Bus Terminal (NY)?

Nasty!

[WinkyDink]

37. Many times, as recently as last December. I 100% dispute your assertion.

[Hannah Bell]

4. germs! other people's germs! be very afraid!

[RufusTFirefly]

14. +1

And if germs fail, there's always this guy.



Or these guys...



Or the old standby

[pipi_k]

17. There are people who are extremely afraid and freaked out

by germs, for some very valid reasons.


It's unfortunate that their fears are something to be mocked.

[Hannah Bell]

38. ....

[AnOhioan]

19. +1

[UnDued11]

33. Amen. If you wash your hands & keep from touching your face a lot

most people are just fine..

I encouraged my boys to get dirty & to play outside in the dirt with their toy trucks when they were small..No germ-phobes here:)

But we also washed hands frequently.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. +1,000,000

[FSogol]

5. Learn to relax. The more germs you are exposed to, the better your immunity becomes.

;-)

[pipi_k]

15. Except for people with compromised immune systems

either naturally, or because of the meds they take.

My son, 40, has RA and is on immunosupressant meds. Any infection could be deadly while he's on them.

When he feels a cold or something coming on, he has to stop those meds. Which means that the pain and swelling from the RA gets worse.


My grandson, who is 7, has been exposed to all sorts of germs in school. His immune system doesn't seem to have gotten any stronger for it, as he's out of school at least 6 (or more) times each school year for illness. His last bout with illness was a week and a half ago...Strep Throat.

I'm by no means a Howard Hughes type of person, but it does disturb me how many people seem to have a rather cavalier attitude about germs. I'm especially disgusted by those who think it's OK to cough or sneeze into the open air with no attempt whatsoever to stem the spray of snot and spittle.

Granted, a head cold isn't exactly the Black Plague, but why the hell should someone have to put up with seven days of misery because rude people think germs are no big deal?

[FSogol]

21. All true, but the solution is to wash your hands frequently, not to work yourself into a tizzy over

dirty shopping cart handles. BTW, my cavalier attitude towards germs doesn't mean I don't cover up when coughing/sneezing, don't wash often, or have any dirty habits, it merely means I don't worry about movie theater seats, hotel couches, doorknobs, or shopping carts. Luckily, I enjoy the health to do so.

[pipi_k]

35. Oh, I do, all the time...

One of the very first things I do when I get home.

Wash hands. And I tell Mr P to do the same, since often he'll pick up germs that don't make him ill while I have come down with some real nasty stuff.

[eilen]

6. I work in a hospital

there are lots of germicidals but also lots of resistant bacteria. In fact, I read somewhere that the MRSA and VRE resistant bugs were actually grown on factory farms d/t the high levels of antibiotics given to the animals and then spread through the community so most are at least colonized. Of course many people catch these bugs or maybe the bugs are active and not dormant d/t the body's defenses being immunocompromised/weak.

We isolate people with bugs like MRSA, VRE, CDiff etc. but they didn't live in a vacum, they came from the community and supermarkets are part of the community.

I tend to use the carts without seats in them, the little ones. Not because of the baby diaper issue; mostly d/t I can't buy as many groceries anymore at once d/t higher prices and I also don't buy that much at the supermarket, preferring the farmer's market. I do buy some produce at the supermarket though because there is not much of selection at the farmer's market when it comes to greens this time of year.

Wash your hands before and after shopping with soap and water. Wash your vegetables before chopping them.
If you can avoid it, don't eat factory meat.

[WolverineDG]

7. Warm water + soap = problem solved

Wash your hands!

dg

[Generic Other]

8. ack

grossssssssssss

[The Straight Story]

9. Maybe I should start using carts as toilets, to make them cleaner

:evilgrin:

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. Everytime the bagger puts my groceries in the top part (baby seat) I let them have it.

When they say why don't you want your bags there I tell them it's where the babies shit their pants.

[HERVEPA]

18. Wow. Have a lot of other anger issues?

[Shagbark Hickory]

29. I guess.

n/t

[pipi_k]

20. Countertops in fast food places...

Someone pointed that out to me some time ago...ever see a parent hoist a toddler up onto the counter while waiting for an order?

Yeah.

Pissy shitty pants.

You come along two minutes later and rest your hands on the counter where the pissy shitty pants were and transfer whatever onto your hands, then grab your grub and....well...you know the rest.

Who eats fast food fries with a fork?

:puke:


I'm wondering if anyone who thinks this is a non-issue would be willing to eat a burger if they saw a worker sneeze right on it before serving it.

[Shagbark Hickory]

28. I just go thru the drive thru where they only put money on the counter.

:lol:

[yellowcanine]

31. If I see that I would be tempted to ask the counter person to please wipe down the counter

with an alcohol wipe. That is disgusting.

If a worker sneezes on my burger I am going to ask him to please throw away that burger, go wash his hands and then get me another burger. This should all be said quietly but firmly. If he is unwilling to do that I want want to see his supervisor right now please. Again, quietly but firmly.


It is bad enough that many of them are handling money and the food also. A good reason to always say you want the food take-out even if you plan to eat it there. Then the wrapped burger usually goes directly into a clean bag. Not foolproof, but better.

[pipi_k]

32. Just remembered...

Last fall I had to get my license renewed. Every ten years we get to do it online, but this time I actually had to go to the RMV.

It was one I had never been to before, and for the most part they were pleasant and quite efficient...anyway, when it was my turn to hand over my paperwork and have photo taken, I went up to the counter and there was a sign telling people not to put children or purses on the counter.

One of the problems with purses I had never considered before...how many women put their purses on the floor next to them when they use a public toilet if there is no hanger in the stall...

Floors where people have sometimes peed or walked on with shoes that may have walked through someone's big fat spit puddle out on the sidewalk or dog doody or whatever.

All that is on the floor and our purses are sitting in it each time we put them down in the restroom...

gack

:puke:

[Little Star]

11. A little baby poop never hurt anyone! LOL

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

12. more feces!

I don't know how much national attention this story got, but it did here because the sampling was in Chicago. It didn't seem to raise too much of a stink :)

Restaurant ice cubes dirtier than toilet water

http://healthinmotion.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/restaurant-ice-cubes-dirtier-than-toilet-water/


It looks like a similar study was conducted a couple of years later in Virginia.


Fecal Matter Found In Nearly Half Of Fast-Food Soda Fountains

http://www.ktradionetwork.com/2010/01/08/fecal-matter-found-in-nearly-half-of-fast-food-soda-fountains/

[MindPilot]

13. Why is it that every shopping cart has to be a child mobility device?

I don't have kids. I don't need the little seat. What I need is a little clipboard so I have a place for my list and coupons. Is that so fucking hard? It's time to acknowledge that not EVERYONE has kids. /rant

[marmar]

16. That's why I always make use of the antibacterial wipes when I get a shopping cart.

nt

[gatorboy]

22. So how many toilets did they stick their hands into for the comparison?

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. And they have no idea if this is actually a problem

One thing Gerba couldn’t say was how likely it was that a child would get sick from touching — or even sucking on — a contaminated handle.

As far as Dr. Neil Fishman is concerned, that risk isn’t very big. “I’d be worried if there was any evidence of any disease outbreaks related to shopping cart use,” said Fishman, an infectious disease expert and director of health care epidemiology and infection prevention at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “There isn’t — and we’ve been using them for a long time.”

While there may, indeed, be bacteria on shopping cart handles, they can also be found on doorknobs, countertops and a host of other items we touch every day, Fishman said. “My guess is that there are more bacteria on a car seat than on a shopping cart,” he added.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41838546/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

[yellowcanine]

24. e coli only comes from poop. Yes it's a problem.

[uppityperson]

25. Money is very filthy, worse than shopping carts or much else.

[pipi_k]

34. Once I stopped using money...

and started using my debit/credit card, I've found I get sick way less than I used to.

My only problem is with sometimes having to use the little swipe machine and pushing the buttons but when I get out to the car I use an alcohol wipe to clean my fingertips.

[Kurovski]

26. Public Toilets are Cleaner than Governor Walkers nails.

[yellowcanine]

27. This should be seen as a business opportunity for supermarkets! The first chain that advertises

that it runs its shopping carts through a wash and sanitation cycle several times a day is going to score a big marketing coup.

[The Straight Story]

30. Ban carts and plastic bags, second hand carts kill (and increase YOUR health care costs)

Problem solved.

[leeroysphitz]

36. These researchers have never been to The Joe Louis Arena after a Red Wings game. n/t

[Heywood J]

40. Ironically, I think the trough might actually have been cleaner.

It's been a while, though.

[shanti]

39. and always

wash your hands after a shopping trip!

[jp11]

41. Everything is dirty, act accordingly.