Dear LPG

I don’t know about anyone else but I think that we nearly all have got the message loud and clear about the importance of washing your hands before and after nearly everything you do to stop the spread of infection.

Apparently, as a nation, we British are still not very good at remembering the importance of handwashing, even though there are now so many products on the market to encourage us to do so.  I remember a time when carbolic soap was used for everything from your clothes to keeping the kitchen sink and surfaces up to standard, but it must have been in the 1970s that we, the general public started officially hearing the message about making sure that our hands are clean, especially before we cook.  I know they were invented a lot earlier but I also remember when the popularity of the good old bar of soap was joined by so many other ways to wash so many things apart from just our bodies.

Now, we are often told that antibacterial soaps are the best for washing our hands because they kill so many types of germs and bacteria but, as with all things, there are both good and bad and many of the little organisms that our bodies need to have available to them in order to be healthy are in the antibacterial firing line too.   The main job of antibacterial products is to eliminate both and I have read that there is some argument as to how much more effective they are than the other available products which don’t profess to possess the ability to be so effective; particularly if used in conjunction with hot water.

I honestly believe that washing your hands before activity where they need to be clean and after activity which leaves them with a high risk of doing harm is vital (which means before and after everything you do if not doing so will leave people at risk), but I am not so sure that we really need to use antibacterial products at all. 

WS, Downham

WS has chosen an interesting topic to highlight in today’s post and has taken the time to send some online evidence to back up the sentiment.

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