Germophobia

[chunkylover58]

What are the longterm ramifications of the ubiquity of all of these antibacterial products like soaps and sponges and so forth? I mean for people. I use a product like that for surfaces, like if I just sliced a chicken on a counter top or something, but I rarely ever use a/b soaps on my skin. My feeling is that there are many helpful bacteria that live there and killing them could lead me open to other, nastier bugs to come in. Plus, the immune system is weaker when we don't allow ourselves to be exposed to various biological baddies.

Also, these products don't really kill 100% of the baddies, anyway, so whatever is left over and is hardy enough to survive, will keep on keepin on and will make more and more resitant strains. Seems like so many kids anymore have allergies and asthma more than they used to. I'm thinking that the overall fear of germs many people have has led to a weakening of our immune systems.

I remember when one kid in the neighborhood got chickenpox, the other parents would bring their kids over so they could catch it, too. This way they'd be done with it and not have to worry about it again (well...there's always shingles later in life, but I digress). Now, kids are sent home from daycare when they have a sniffle.

Anyhoo, are we doing longterm damage to our immune systems by making everything we can germ free? Or perhaps it's all marketing hype and doesn't really do all that much, anyway?

Thoughts, feelings, questions .....

 

[Skylark]

I don't think we are anywhere close to making ourselves 'germ-free' with soaps and the like. For the most part I think 'anti-bacterial' and the like are merchandising gimicks, although there are some with skin conditions that benefit from this.

Is exposure to germs through the skin all that important overall anyway? Don't we get the bulk of our exposure to germs through the lungs and digestive tract?

I think kids spending all day inside in front of TV's and such instead of running around outside playing in the dirt has a greater impact by far on not developing a healthy immune system than the use of anti-bacterial soaps.

 

[chunkylover58]

I don't think we are anywhere close to making ourselves 'germ-free' with soaps and the like. For the most part I think 'anti-bacterial' and the like are merchandising gimicks, although there are some with skin conditions that benefit from this.

Is exposure to germs through the skin all that important overall anyway? Don't we get the bulk of our exposure to germs through the lungs and digestive tract?

I think kids spending all day inside in front of TV's and such instead of running around outside playing in the dirt has a greater impact by far on not developing a healthy immune system than the use of anti-bacterial soaps.

True. I guess my point is the overall fear of germs, a/b soaps just being a part of the bigger picture. It started out as all about a/b stuff, then led to a more generalized notion as my brain started to drift off and stuff kept adding to the stuff I had just said and it turned into something a bit different.

Feeling a bit Pooh-ish. "...when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it."