-Automatic toilets always flush at the wrong time. And then other times the auto toilet is stubborn and won't flush when you want it to, so you wave your hand over the infrared light and after nothing happens, you press the button. Wouldn't the handle concept have been a lot simpler?

-I read somewhere that toilet seat covers are made with the same type of paper as oil blotting paper. The whole butt-face concept is a little too much for me to process. I'm assuming you would blot before placing it on the toilet seat.

-How is it possible that a thin sheet of blotting paper can protect me from toilet disease? What kind of research studies were done with paper on toilet seats? Is that paper a protective shield? Who needs a bullet proof vest when you have toilet seat covers?

-I hate it when I go in the bathroom and everything is really quiet, but you sense someone is in there. I feel like I've just stepped into someone's private time. When they are still there after I leave, I know they really needed private time. I bet they're glad I left, too.


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3 comments:

    Daniel said...

    The American Academy of Pediatrics, quoted in an article in the NY Times, wrote that "researchers say that of all the areas in a bathroom, the toilet seat is probably the least germ-infested" and that "you are more likely to encounter common bacteria like E. coli and cold viruses on a faucet than on a toilet seat. Failing to wash your hands after touching a flush handle, faucet or doorknob poses a greater health threat than sitting on a toilet". Also, a '97 study found that "women's bathrooms have twice as many germs as men's"! (Maybe this explains it.) There was another article in Forbes that observed that, with regard to paper toilet seat covers and people's fear that you can catch a disease from direct exposure to a public toilet seat, "Bacteria have not been shown to grow on toilet seats, so contact 'poses very little risk of transmission' of diseases, according to colorectal surgeon Bruce Orkin of George Washington University in D.C."---yet on average more than $20 million is spent on paper seat covers globally per annum. Or maybe I'd better say "per year" in this particular case. Further, another study "found that office workstations contain an average of 400 times as many germs as toilet seats"---meaning you're more likely to get sick sitting at your desk than in a restroom, even one of those funky gas station public facilities!

    On a totally different tangent: a microbiology team at the U. of Arizona tested a dozen office surfaces, including bathrooms---among their discoveries, it was revealed that the average telephone receiver had 25,000 bacteria per square inch, while toilet seats had only 49.

    As for those autoflushing things---they are actually more likely to land germs on you, at least if they're those misfiring ones that flush at random, than traditional toilets. Mainly because every time a toilet flushes, a "polluted plume of bacteria and water vapor erupts out of the flushing toilet bowl", according to Dr. Charles Gerba, also at the U. of AZ. (Who adds, "The polluted water particles float for a few hours around your bathroom before they all land. Some of them will land on your tooth brush." --- the preventive solution is that one should flush only with the lid down.) So, when a toilet autoflushes while one's still on or hovering above it, that polluted plume, unable to go elsewhere, well, hitches a ride on you. Research by the same doctor and team also suggest that the toilet seat is even the lowest bacteria count in the average household, not just in public places (the worst is the kitchen sponge, followed closely by the kitchen sink).

    Happy St. Patrick's!

  1. ... on 5:57 PM  
  2. Jen said...

    We have automatic flushing toilets at school. At the beginning of each year I have to introduce them as magic toilets and reassure the 4 year olds that they won't suck them down because they're terrified of them.

  3. ... on 12:10 PM  
  4. Ulovebeth said...

    Daniel- thanks so much. I learned a lot!

    Jen- Those toilets might be strong enough to flush a kid. Please be careful.

  5. ... on 3:57 PM