Are Your Hands This Dirty?

Well this is horrible news. One in four people's hands are contaminated with poo. I think that means the hands of one person out of every four people, and not one hand from two people's worth of hands. Or that would mean some people are only washing one hand after going to the loo and that seems like more hassle than it's worth.

This is why I'm starting my campaign to change shaking hands to the left hands. Most people are righties and most people wipe with their dominant hand. Why would you use your less dominant hands, you need accuracy down there?

The same study says one in nine people have as much faecal organisms on their hands as you would find on a dirty toilet set. And the received wisdom is that this is caused by people not washing their hands, but even if you don't wash, why do you have that much poo on your hands? Didn't you learn to wipe? If your fingers go through you didn't use enough.

Also worrying is the statistic that one in ten banks cards have faecal bacteria on them. I can understand how your hand gets near your bum, but bank cards? That's not where you're meant to swipe them.

This survey was released to promote Global Handwashing Day. I'm all for it. I did a chemistry degree and dealing with harsh chemicals that react to moisture teaches you to wash your hands BEFORE and after you've been to the loo.

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