Cleanliness seems to be an obsession in our community right now. I’m constantly getting questioned about how clean and safe the produce we sell is. Everyone seems to be afraid of the next outbreak or pandemic that is certainly lurking in the dark corners of our world. To combat that fear people are pushing for more stringent regulation of food and food production. They are also being more obsessive about cleaning. I see lots of people using antimicrobial wipes on everything. Anything that may have been touched by another person or, coughed on, or looked at by someone else gets wiped down. Every surface gets sprayed by the latest wonder killer that is guaranteed to kill 99.9% of germs. There are even sprays to kill microbes floating in the air. Armed with wipes, gels, and sprays, everyone feels safer. But are they?
99.9% of microbes eliminated seems like a really effective product. However, on the average kitchen counter, which contains approximately 64000 microbes per square inch that cleaning product would leave 64 microbes that weren’t killed. These microbes have some level of resistance to our antimicrobials. They also now live in a world where their ideal growth conditions exist and where they have no competitors (remember we just killed them all). Populations grow exponentially, and the microbe population will double each generation. Those 64 microbes become 128, then 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536. Within 10 generations they are back to the levels they started at. This can happen in a few hours. The thing I find really frightening is that these microbes are somewhat resistant to the antimicrobials we use. Every time we use them we enhance the resistance. Soon we have created super microbes we can’t kill. We have also destroyed the balance in the microbe populations and that allows one or two types to expand beyond their normal population levels. Microbes that were a normal part of the world, causing no problems for anyone, often acting beneficial ways, suddenly become a toxic problem.
In the garden we use compost tea as a spray. It makes a great foliar feed, but it also covers the plants with a vast array of microbes. This creates a very divers microbe community on the plants and in the surrounding soil. It goes a long way to eliminating microbial diseases in plants because no one population gets out of control. Maybe we need this same approach at home. Maybe we should clean with products that kill less, disturbing the balance less. Maybe we should be eating foods that are less processed and contain more diverse microbial populations like raw veggies, raw milk, cheeses, fermented grains, yogurts, etc.
I know of a hospital where they eliminated all the antimicrobial cleaning products and started using a mild dish detergent as their cleaner. The number of staff infections and other common microbial problems seen in hospitals dropped significantly. Might be a good thing to try at home.
What do you use for cleaning?
I couldn’t agree more. One of my biggest pet peeves is the clean-freaking that seems to be going on. I just don’t buy into it. I have two coworkers who wash their hands or use antibacterial hand gel obsessively. Interestingly, they are always sick. I don’t use any of it, and I wash my hands when (hello?) they need it. I’ve had 2 colds in the past 5 years, and one 24hr stomach bug in 12 years.
Go figure. The way I see it, I’m putting my immune system through its paces, and it is working.
I also am worried about creating superbugs through our use of use of the antimicrobial agents. As long as the companies use the typical scare advertising, though, I don’t think anything will change.
wow very interesting post. We usually use dish detergent (the antibacterial I am afraid) or we use whatever orange “green” cleaner I have laying around in the kitchen area. I feed my dogs raw so we have to be careful about ecoli etc.
I would never go to a hospital that used only dish detergent. MRSA is not killed by mild dish detergent. Washing hands with regular soap is still the most effective way to not tranmist infection but there are things in the hospital that are very serious that need more than mild soap to eliminate.
At work (a hospital) I use alcohol and soap for my hands. I use bleach wipes for equipment that has been in contact precaution rooms and for the occasional phone wipping down.
At home I use water and vinegar.
Great post – and very true. Antibiotics are reached for at an alarming rate creating more and more resistance. I just recently read about a cow that had a photo sensitivity. The treatment? Give antibiotics, remove cow from the herd, and keep out of light. The cause? They don’t know, it just happens. Probable cause? Ingesting a poisonous plant. The treatment for that? Remove from herd, keep out of the light. The results, the same, except the cow received antibiotic for no reason. But the the cow will get better in either case because she was removed from the poisonous grazing area and given different feed and allowed to heal away from the sun.
Powerful drugs and cleaners are great, but should be used with caution, not as a routine measure.
jennifer,
at first blush i would agree but then, when you think about it, not only is handwashing touted as “the best defense against the spread of infection” but it’s not what you use but how you use it. slathering your hands in antimicrobial soap or alcohol gel isn’t what gets rid of the nasties, it’s the friction and the duration. c-diff and other spores aren’t done in by the gels. heck, they’re not even phased by them. the only thing that knocks out c-diff is good old fashioned friction. the same is true for MRSA and MSSA. the cleaning that’s done in hospitals is cursory at best. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve repositioned a bed to transfer a patient and been met by an army of dust bunnies from a monitor boom that wasn’t properly wiped down. bed rails, if they aren’t obviously soiled, are given a quick swipe of a not-so-clean rag and last but not least, the phone gets a pass with the same rag before it’s on to the next room. i can’t remember the last time i saw a mattress get a good scrubbing. now i’m not saying that i would eat off of the floor in any hospital but hospitals unto themselves are dens of disease and the majority of our so called ‘superbugs’ are the creation of the slap dash use of broad spectrum antibiotics, poor hand hygiene and well meaning visitors who let little johnny and his drippy nose give gramma a sloppy wet kiss.
I was listening to a specialist in cold viruses on the radio one day. He said that half of the cold viruses aren’t killed by those antibacterial gels. They live just fine in them. When asked how to get cold viruses off your hands, he said washing in water. You don’t even need soap since it only helps a little. He said he did use soap himself because with soap you know when you’ve covered your whole hand and know when it is all rinsed off, so you don’t miss spots and with soap you tend to wash longer.
When cleaning my kitchen counter I tend to use a clean cloth and water. Once a week it might get something stronger, but on a day to day basis it is just a clean cloth and water. BTW the CLEAN cloth is important since the real breeding ground for bacteria is the nice wet cloth or sponge. It holds onto those little food particles. The next time you wipe your counter with them you are just spreading bacteria around. I have a lot of very small wash cloths that I replace often. They are small so they don’t take up a lot of space in the washing machine.
My husband works at a hospital and is in contact with patients, mostly sick, all day. He avoids the hand-sanitizers and opts for a sink and soap and water for a good scrub whenever possible. When necessary he uses a less-toxic natural hand-sanitizer that he carries in his pocket. He often talks about how people think that squirting a little of the “magic” gel on their hands will keep them safe. No irony that so many bacterias are now developing resistance.
At home we clean as much as possible with mild, home-made cleaners (vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide). And rarely need the big guns. When we do need to sanitize…very rare…we opt for natural and least impactful options.
There is no research that supports the idea that hand cleaners contribute to super bugs…none at all. The soap at hospitals is antimicrobial so if you think you’re just using soap and water when working at a hospital you are not. Regular hand soap does not kill MRSA, HIV, etc.
What causes these superbugs are the over use and misuse of antibiotics, not alcohol gel or antimicrobial soaps.
On the other hand there is also no evidence that in a normal household the use of these marketed products help reduce infection rates either so unless you have exposure in your house to these not the norm infections you are just wasting your money when you could be buying much cheaper products.
I think some of you are not recognizing the distinctions between antimicrobial products, antibiotics and toxic chemicals. Vinegar is an antimicrobial, using it will not cause superbugs to develop. Alcohol is a antimicrobial, it will not cause a superbug to develop.
Jennifer,
I would agree on the concept that alcohol-based hand sanitizers do not contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance – different mechanism. However, there is evidence that anti-microbial hand cleaners (aka antimicrobial ‘soap’) does. the active ingredient in all is triclosan and microbes do develop resistance to triclosan. Unfortunately, the mechanism they use also confers resistance to some macrolide antibiotics such as erythromycin.
‘Antimicrobial hand soap’ as you call it, also doesn’t do squat against MRSA, HIV, etc. It’s only beneficial efect is the mechanical one of removing a transient organism on the skin.
I do agree with your last three paragraphs, except that neither vinegar nor alcohol is commonly considered an antimicrobial, though most human bacterial pathogens would not be happy in vinegar and some viruses (enveloped) are susceptible to alcohol.
I used to be a middle school teacher, and every year at least one student would use various methods to evaluate “hand sanitizing” gels. Every year without fail, the student came to the conclusion that the gels do not work to kill the bacteria students commonly carry on their hands. I go for soap, water, and a good scrub myself. I wash the veggie cutting board down every time I use it, and use a plate or something I can immerse in really hot, soapy water (and scrub) for meat.
We live in a hot, humid environment with serious fungus issues, though, so I do have to get out the 10% bleach solution once in a while.
Ohhh… I don’t clean any more than absolutely necessary. I am sure I have a very diverse population of microbes. LOL
Just wanted to ask, Do you know how hard it is to find a big jug of hand soap refill that is not anti-bacterial? Ugh! They are putting that stuff in everything!
I clean my house almost exclusively with lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and baking soda. I use a bit of dish detergent for dishes and anything else, when necessary, but this is pretty rare. I was dishes and cutting boards often, but I don’t sweat it too much. This may not work for everyone, but for me it does. I almost never get sick, my apartment looks good, and my allergies are better since I’ve reduced chemicals and fragrances.
I clean my house almost exclusively with lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and baking soda. I use a bit of dish detergent for dishes and anything else, when necessary, but this is pretty rare. I was dishes and cutting boards often, but I don’t sweat it too much. This may not work for everyone, but for me it does. I almost never get sick, my apartment looks good, and my allergies are better since I’ve reduced chemicals and fragrances.
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!