Stop with the hand wipes!

It seems that those hand wipe dispensers, such as you see at supermarkets, have become increasingly prevalent. They’re for wiping down the handles of shopping carts before using them--I guess so you don't pick up other people's cooties. You also see more of those dispensers in other places. I’ve always thought they were silly: just one more thing to make people fear their environment.

It turns out, they do more harm than good. They (and many other products) are impregnated with a chemical called triclosan, which kills the native bacterial species on our hands--bacteria that act as a defensive layer against “invaders.” In other words, they disrupt the natural balance of bacteria on our hands. Triclosan kills weak bacteria but favors the tolerant, including those that eat triclosan[!]. What’s more, overuse of such products helps encourage antibiotic-resistant germs. In fact, resistance to triclosan is already evident. Triclosan also disrupts endocrine systems—at least in fish, who have been found to have lower sperm counts than those who are not exposed to triclosan. (Triclosan has entered our water systems.)

We don’t need to be at war with the microbial world. In fact, exposure to some bacteria encourages a stronger immune system. A newly published study of 1,037 children in New Zealand, which began in 1972 and continues to this day, showed that children who frequently sucked their thumbs or bit their nails (had their hands in their mouths) were significantly less likely to test positive for allergies than those who did not. (It did not, however, affect their likelihood of having asthma or hay fever.) Other studies have shown an increase in allergies and asthma in people living in overly sterile environments. What's more, most people who use antibiotic soap are no healthier than those who use normal soap; and chronically sick people who use antibiotic soap appear to get sicker!

All of this supports what is called the “hygiene hypothesis” which holds that our germaphobic ways may be making us sick by harming our microbiome—those bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. that live in and on our bodies. We end up with an underutilized immune system unable to distinguish friend from foe. So stop with the hand wipes.

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