[at-l] Considerations.

[rbenhameda@comcast.net (Rami)]

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  Orange Bug wrote:
  These are articles discussing the
  acknowledged benefit of soap/water and mechanical scrubbing/lathering ove=
r
  hand sanitizers - alcohol gels.
  ~and~
   it is good if we can get people to
  use alcohol gel a few times a day after digging a cathole or watering the
  bushes.


[Rami:]
Agreed, and more importantly, agreed!
I was looking at these more from a perspective of a parent who sees other p=
arents creating mini-obsessives by whipping out the purell after their kid =
touches everything.  It's almost painful to see these poor little 3, 4, and=
 5 year old's afraid to touch a rock, or pick up a bug, or even put on dres=
s up clothes at school because of the potential for germs.
I've been collecting these type of articles for almost two years now, and p=
osting them in the school's newsletters and on bulletin boards to try to co=
nvince more people to 'wash on purpose' after bathroom visits, or before ki=
tchen work, but not just because they hadn't done so in the past five minut=
es.  I have a strong suspicion, and my kids pediatrician supports my belief=
 (and supplies me with articles sometimes) that over-sanitizing is akin to,=
 if not as serious as, over using antibiotics.
What good hand sanitizer does when used properly is offset by improper (too=
 little used, over too short of a time to become effective) and near obsess=
ive use.  I wouldn't be surprised to find a study in a few years that says =
minor bacteria which would not have made kids sick a few years ago are now =
causing serious harm due to resistance built up by the (improper) use of sa=
nitizer.  I also won't be surprised to find that kids who's parents try to =
keep them sterile, are being seriously hurt by minor infections which would=
 have, a few years ago, not even caused a sniffle.


-r (stepping down off of the soap box with a confused look on his face beca=
use he didn't realize he was on it to begin with)