OT: Am I missing something?

[Bruce]

(and that does seem plausible) then the newer high speed driers will be even worse in that respect than their predecessors.

[dennis]

But its your cr@p, it can't harm you.

[Andy Champ]

They have their uses.

Mostly it's to drop off, stick in the U-bend, and make lots of employment for emergency plumbers.

(or so I'm told!)

Andy

[Steve Walker]

It's also true that washing hands, but not drying them allows bacteria to multiply - they like damp.

SteveW

[John Whitworth]

I try to tailgate someone out of the toilet, avoiding the handle. :-)

I have a hand gel in my desk, but I only tend to use it if I am about to eat, or have eaten something that's made my hands reek! :-)

[geoff]

In message , John Whitworth writes

Too much information ... as they say

[The Medway Handyman]

If you think about it, hands inserted into the (hot) drying air stream should be 100% clean & germ free from the washing process anyway.

Hand drier manufacturers make one sale, paper towel makers have repeat sales at huge margins.

The other point is that hand driers are the only viable option in, for example, motorway service areas.

Paper towels in that environment would be a nightmare, huge storage areas required, washroom bins full of paper that has to be removed & disposed of etc.

[Bruce]

A few years ago I was sat next to a guy on an a transatlantic flight who was am expert in hygiene - a professor at Imperial College. He told me that the most hygienic result was probably from using antibacterial soap and hot water then drying with a paper or clean roller towel (remember those?) followed by a hot air hand dryer to dry the bits the towel missed.

He was adamant that the drying played as much part as the washing in removing bacteria.

He advised Sainsbury's and Centre MK (the mall in Milton Keynes) among others. On his advice, most Sainsbury's stores and Centre MK offered paper towels and hot air dryers in their toilets. Centre MK changed only recently to Dyson "Blade" air dryers and Sainsbury's are gradually installing high speed warm air dryers from World Dryer.

Both are a big improvement on the Xcelerator.

I got talking to the guy because the toilets on the plane were filthy and they ran out of paper towels about a third of the way across the pond. I complained to the cabin crew, and so did he. Except he knew what he was talking about. ;-)

[Man at B&Q]

It may be "true" but, (a) You've just washed your hands and got rid of most of them,otherwise why bother. (b) Your hands don't remain damp long enough for it to matter.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

If he was as expert as he claimed then he would have known that "anti- bacterial" soap is little, if any, more effective than ordinary soap. How many people leave it on their skin long enough to actually do anything before washing it off?

Even if it did work, ther are the considerable downsides such as removing "good" bacteria and encouraging development of resistant strains.

Best avoided.

MBQ

[Bruce]

They remain damp enough to transfer bacteria to everything you touch when and after leaving the washroom until your hands are dry. The moisture you leave on door handles etc. also enables bacteria already there to transfer more easily to other people.

Drying your hands really is as important as washing them, but like most things in life, consideration for others seems to have a very low priority these days.

[Bruce]

You certainly don't get to be a Professor at Imperial College if you don't know what you are talking about. I would take his advice before yours any day of the week, given the nonsense you have spouted elsewhere about there being no need to dry your hands.

It might be useful if you would tell us which parts of the UK you frequent so we can make sure to avoid you. ;-)

[Jim K]

shove him up your killfile

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Dave Osborne saying something like:

Anyone who's ever taken a hand drier apart will well know the horrible mass of fluff and bugs that builds up in them.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "ARWadsworth" saying something like:

Nasty things, chickens.

[Man at B&Q]

It's not my advice, I'm only reporting by what's accepted by the wider scientific community. Anti-bacterial sop has not been shown to be any more effective than ordinary soap in real world conditions.

MBQ

[Tim Streater]

In any case, what is meant by "anti-bacterial" soap. *All* soap is anti-bacterial, seems to me, in that soap, AFAIK, kills bacteria. What's this "anti-bacterial" business all about or is it just marketing b/s?

[Bruce]

Ah, that's probably why it is in near universal use in hospitals.

I'd be very interested to see some evidence from this "wider scientific community" of yours. I reckon it's a bloke down the pub who doesn't wash his hands, let alone dry them.

Or in other words, I don't believe you.

[Man at B&Q]

I'm sure you can use Google. To help you along here's one link:

with a quote to make it even easier for you:

"In the documents released Monday, the FDA said it found no medical studies that showed a link between a specific consumer antibacterial product and a decline in infection rates. Indeed, one major study found little difference between washing with soap and using an antimicrobial product.

Read more:

"Use Google to find more.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

Indeed. I recently went to an open day at Warwick Uni with my eldest son who is thinking of applying there. The tour of the Chemistry labs included a demonstration of chromatography to identify the blue colour in WKD, de-icer and, surprise, surprise, anti-bacterial handwash. The exact comment was "all soap is anti-bacterial", along with something like "it's blue, it must be good" being the average punters response.

MBQ