Slashdot Mirror
Dyson Airblades 'Spread Germs 1,300 Times More Than Paper Towels' (telegraph.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: The Journal of Applied Microbiology published a report claiming Dyson Airblade hand-driers spread 60 times more germs than standard air dryers, and 1,300 times more than standard paper towels. The researchers from University of Westminster conducted their research by dipping their hands in water containing a harmless virus. Then, they dried their hands with either a Dyson Airblade, a standard hot-air dryer, or a paper towel. Their research shows the Dyson drier's 430mph blasts of air are capable of spreading viruses up to 3 meters across a bathroom. Typical driers spread viruses up to 75cm (about 2.5ft), and the hand towels 25cm (less than 1ft).
Shouldn't the premise for testing hand dryers be that the hands are washed with soap and are "clean" but wet? If we taint the water itself and measure how far that spreads, is that really a realistic test of how hygienic the dryer is?
But... But... It's the "world's most hygienic hand dryer!" It says it right on the thing!
It is.
All the germs which were on your hands are now up to 3 meters away from you.
Well most of the reviews on Dyson is that their products either sucks or blows.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Have you tried using one of them as a urinal while they were blowing?
Worst urinal EVER!!
Drying your hands with a towel of any kind isn't what cleans your hands.
Soap binds to the dirt AND to water. When you wash your hands the soap is effectively gluing the dirt to the water and when you rinse that water away you rinse away the dirt too.
Washing your hands with soap and water and doing a decent job of rubbing/lathering your hands together (i.e. do it for 20 seconds or so and hit all parts of your hand) is all that is required for good sanitation in most cases. Most people don't wash their hands properly.
You only need to 'scrub' with a brush or other implement if you need your hands _extremely_ clean or you have material on them that is not readily emulsified by soap & water. Unless you are a surgeon, you don't need your hands to be _that_ clean. You have an immune system for a reason. Give it something to do so it doesn't get bored and turn on you (allergies).
Honestly my junk is probably cleaner than my hands it's been locked up in clean underwear while my hands have handled money and all kind of other unsanitary things. Wash your hands before you take a whiz.
Dyson Airblades, or as microbiologists like to call the, Dyson Germ Cannons
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Is that the one where the guy admits that he has done absolutely no research and just makes the whole thing up?
For TED talks, that doesn't exactly narrow it down.
Bathrooms need to replace these damn air blades with a pair of jeans hanging on the wall.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
I just stand by the door and wait for someone else to come in... Never costs me more than a few hours...
It almost always is - the exception is if you have a urinary tract infection. It can be used as an emergency antiseptic.
A sterile liquid isn't an antiseptic. It can help displacing some amount of bacteria (and water being a universal solvent, it does help more than most people give it credit for, although soap is for sure needed in most situations), but that's it.
The problem with urine is that it's not just sterile (in most cases). It's also full of nutritive components, and it's warm too, making it an ideal bacterial growth medium.
(And when a guy touches his penis, he can easily come into contact with precum, which is less sterile, and can transmit STDs if infected, including in some cases as an asymptomatic and undiagnosed carrier...).
If you have urine on your hands, you will ease bacterial growth on them and everything you touch for hours.
The "pee is clean so I don't need to wash my hands, you're just a clean freak with a sexuality complex!" idea is very typical of superficial thinking by phony skeptics...
(Intimacy is not a complex either... Trying to force one's one intimacy on others, is, though...).
You should clean your hand both before and after going to the toilets.
Washing your hands without soap at all is quite effective, assuming you do a reasonable job at it. See The Effect of Handwashing at Recommended Times with Water Alone and With Soap on Child Diarrhea in Rural Bangladesh: An Observational Study. Any soap will make the hand washing more effective. Anti-bacterial soap is no better than standard soap.
As a doctor I could suggest washing your hands with soap and water instead of virus and water. The former is the approved method whereas the latter is a little to new and usually frowned upon.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.