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Anti-Bacterial Hand Gel Is Bad! (Put On Tinfoil Hats Now!)

Cherrybomb

Cherrybomb

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
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Hi,

Some lads at my work were chatting this morning about how anti bac hand gel - which is used in hospitals, etc - is being sent out and promoted by "them" to give us even more of a resistance to anti bac drugs. They think that it's part of the NWO's plans, so that in a few years "they" can unlease a nasty disease, and Joe Blogs won't have a cat in hells chance for survival, due to our bodies all being so drug resistant! :roll:

Now, I had a bit of a chuckle and mulled it over, but I thought you lovely Forteans might enjoy this one too. So, what do you think? A way to kill off millions or just hand gel to stop people getting tummy bugs, etc?
 
It's antibacterial not antibiotic - the concern about resistance was I thought confined to antibiotics.

That said I think the obsession with disinfecting everything is insane - by all means make sure hospitals and the like are spotless, but a bit of dirt in the home or office will do no harm whatsoever!
 
Quake42 said:
It's antibacterial not antibiotic - the concern about resistance was I thought confined to antibiotics.

That said I think the obsession with disinfecting everything is insane - by all means make sure hospitals and the like are spotless, but a bit of dirt in the home or office will do no harm whatsoever!
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That's what I thought, but the lads I work with felt that antibiotic/antibacterial are the same thing. :?

Couldn't agree more! I also think if we let kids get dirty once in a while it would do them no harm, however I have friends/family who think their little angels should be squeeky clean at all times! :roll:
 
Couldn't agree more! I also think if we let kids get dirty once in a while it would do them no harm, however I have friends/family who think their little angels should be squeeky clean at all times!
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Not helped by the increasingly alarming adverts for disnfectants of various sorts - where toddlers suck their thumbs after touching a kitchen floor and terrifying music plays while a serious voice intones about the dangers of bacteria...

I'm pretty sure the mania for disinfecting everything is a major cause of the allergy epidemic...
 
Ha ha yes. I recall that advert where they show a load of food on a toilet seat, and warn us (with chilling music) that there are more bacteria on your chopping board than a toilet seat. Well there may well be, but the crucial factor of course is type, not number.

I don't think the hand gels can cause resistance, because the the gels kill everything effectively while antibiotics spare the antibiotic resistant bacteria thereby driving natural selection to favour their survival over the others. I think that's (sort of) how it works anyhow..(I am prepared to be corrected though)
 
Right...I'm off to the toilet to chop some veg. :mrgreen:
 
Yep, antibacterial gel doesn't cause resistance. Tell your colleagues to at least get such a simple detail right first.
 
because the the gels kill everything effectively while antibiotics spare the antibiotic resistant bacteria thereby driving natural selection to favour their survival over the others. I think that's (sort of) how it works anyhow..(I am prepared to be corrected though)
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OK and sporting not a tin foil hat but an anorak; The gel doesn't kill everything , there are plenty of bacteria that remain unaffected by them because of how it works. And it will only work on already clean hands.

Essentially the alcohol in the gel permeates the cell membrane of the bacteria and destroys it as it evaporates, effectively skinning the little gits alive. There are though plenty of species which they can't touch though, as they can form spores, which are hard and fairly impermeable shells that the alcohol won't effect.

This isn't going to cause any resistance though as spore forming bacteria are spore forming and non spore forming aren't. More than that though it's nothing like as effective as soap and water.
 
Actually a lot of people get salmonella on chopping boards because they chop raw meat on them. Which is fine if all you chop is meat (as long as you don't serve steak tartare) and heat the meat to 160 degrees Fahrenheit while cooking. The problem arises when people chop vegetables, particularly salads, on the same board as the meat.

The solution is to have two chopping boards, one used exclusively for meat and one used exclusively for fruits and vegetables.

Restaurants which get waves of food poisoning are generally ones in which this separation of chopping surfaces is not strictly enforced.
 
PeniG said:
The problem arises when people chop vegetables, particularly salads, on the same board as the meat.

The solution is to have two chopping boards, one used exclusively for meat and one used exclusively for fruits and vegetables.
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Restaurants? Perhaps my family are particularly weird, but we've always used two separate chopping boards at home - I assumed this was normal.
 
PeniG said:
Restaurants which get waves of food poisoning are generally ones in which this separation of chopping surfaces is not strictly enforced.
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It should be strictly enforced in all food prep areas that serve food to the public - if you get caught you get closed down or fined.

If you don't, you can't guarantee vegetarian customers will get vegetarian food - "cross-contamination", it's known as.
 
yes, thats why they are colour coded.

Antibacterial hand gel is flammable and makes a good firestarter.
 
Your family is certainly not unique, Yith, but nobody can make or enforce anybody in a private home to keep two separate chopping boards, and many people aren't educated on the subject. I didn't realize the sense in having two, myself, until I began preparing meals for an HIV+ person. People around those with disorders of that sort become hyperaware of the risks of cross contamination and get much more finicky about safe food handling.

It should be much more widely taught in home ec classes.

I also now insist on having lever handles on my sink faucets, so I can turn faucets on and off with the backs of my hands. Think about it - you turn the faucet on with the hand you just wiped with, then turn off the dirty handle with the hand you just cleaned that bacteria off on - ick.
 
I think there may be a bit of confusion coming from the reports of antibacterial washing up liquids in a diluted form leading to more resistant bacteria.

MANUFACTURERS ARE exploiting people's fears about hygiene with a whole range of expensive anti-bacterial products that may do more harm than good.
Experts believe the overuse of anti-bacterial agents in household products such as washing-up liquids, chopping boards, binliners and kitchen utensils could lead to resistant bacteria, and make people complacent about basic hygiene.

Research today in the science journal Nature confirms these fears. It shows that E.coli, one of the most common causes of food poisoning, could develop resistance to triclosan - a common anti-bacterial agent.
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The research published in Nature has shown that E.coli bacteria, one of the most common causes of food poisoning, could acquire resistance to triclosan's effects through a comparatively simple mutation.

"It works by inhibiting a key metabolic pathway involving a particular enzyme," said Professor David Rice of the University of Sheffield's molecular biology department.

"In that sense it is acting as an anti-biotic would. That means anti- biotic-type resistance could arise."
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/healt ... 84391.html
 
Trust me, a 10% solution of bleach kills even HIV antibodies, at that solution it shouldn't cause any dermatological problems, unless you already have a predisposition.

Wouldn't drink it mind. ;)
 
Right, back at work today & told my co-workers how wrong they were! :lol: However I then got the "ohhh, so you believe what "they" say now do ya?" talk :roll:
 
:lol: If I'd agreed with them I wonder what else they could have informed me about! Next time I might just smile & nod ;)
 
I'd have thought it is bad because it some places it is now used as a substitute for washing your hands, not a supplement.
 
Cochise said:
I'd have thought it is bad because it some places it is now used as a substitute for washing your hands, not a supplement.
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Wouldn't your hands be sticky and tacky after using the gel without washing them in water too?
 
gncxx said:
Cochise said:
I'd have thought it is bad because it some places it is now used as a substitute for washing your hands, not a supplement.
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Wouldn't your hands be sticky and tacky after using the gel without washing them in water too?
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Nope. It evaporates after a while.
 
Well I am an admitted tin foil hatter myself, but your co-workers are going overboard on this. They do have a thread of truth though, because anti bacterial gel kills good and bad bacteria on your hands, in the same way as antibiotics, which kill good bacteria in your gut, which can cause problems. Apparently you have good bacteria on your skin too.

Cochise said:
I'd have thought it is bad because it some places it is now used as a substitute for washing your hands, not a supplement.
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In my unsolicited opinion (IMUO) a good hand washing is your best bet. I have never gotten the flu nor a flu shot-knock on wood- , and I attribute it to keeping my hands clean, especially when eating.
 
This thread just bubbled up in the browsing pages.

I have to say, I always now have a bottle of this stuff in my office at work (inky hands!)

I can't say it's 'bad', but despite being 'wet' it can dry your skin quite a lot if used repeatedly. And it's easy to get rather compulsive about using it.

Alcohol or something!

I'd also say that it's very widely used in my neck of the woods and frequently available for customers or clients in any situation when you might get your hands soiled.
 
Ogdred Weary said:
I seldom drink more than two or three in a sitting, so am probably alright.
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Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are often removed from institutions where people don't have access to alcohol as they mix it with squash/juice and drink it.

The best way to wash your hands is google "hand washing techniques" or something similar and use hot soapy water after you've learned how to do it.

Also for those that don't know google "food hygiene".
 
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Yithian said:
Restaurants? Perhaps my family are particularly weird, but we've always used two separate chopping boards at home - I assumed this was normal.
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It ought to be. One would think it were common sense. I grew up around the food industry and have owned a cafe myself. We have 4 boards at home, two for veg or any non meat product, one for red meat and one for chicken (we don't cook fish at home). When we owned the cafe, we had colour coded boards ( a common thing here), which were used thusly:
  • Red - Raw Meat.
  • Blue - Raw Fish.
  • Yellow - Cooked Meat.
  • Brown - Vegetables.
  • Green - Salads & Fruit.
  • White - Bakery & Dairy.
 
Even Pizza Hut had two of everything in the kitchen twenty years ago - green kit for anything non-meat/fish.
 
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