Mintball wrote:Concerns over this have been being raised for years. Not only the over-use of antibiotic medicines, but (as I've pointed out more than one, here and elsewhere) the crackpot obsession with 'antibacterial' products of a variety of natures – from chopping boards to soaps to the bleedin' hand pumps for the soaps. But marketing is a factor that has seen countless people buy into an utter terror of germs – and the purchase of antibacterial products. There's a reason that, personally, I absolutely will not have such products in the house.
One of the products that we sell involves all employees placing their hands onto a plastic coated plate at the start and end of their shift, the same plate. We started to notice the appearance of "antiseptic gel" dispensers alongside our equipment a couple of years ago, these apparently were at the request of the employees who were terrified of placing their hand onto something where another person had placed their hand previously.
As a side issue the alcohol in the gel affects the plastic coating on our equipment so we asked if the gel could be moved to the other side, ie AFTER they have placed their hands then they clean them, you'd be surprised how many objected to that.
Anyway, the main point is that this is on building sites, big rough tough builders, lads who have spent all day long touching things that other people have touched, some of whom have probably been digging out sewage pipes or working with foul water in plumbing issues, lads who wouldn't even consider to wash their hands after visiting the toilet, or who sit down and eat their sandwiches at lunchtime without washing their hands - they suddenly, a couple of years ago get absolutely paranoid about the spread of "bird flu" that they demand hand cleansers on building sites, I'd laugh at most of them if they weren't bigger than me, especially when you go inside the portaloos on those building sites.