Adrienne Doolan, CEO, Green Touches Ecological Services UAE

Are we cleaning needlessly, ineffectively and without responsibility? The resounding answer to that, in my opinion, is Yes! All around us we see cleaning staff in malls, hospitals, restaurants and schools, usually using toxic chemicals, which according to scientific research, is causing allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases and even cancer. We have to move away from traditional cleaning methods and non-effective ways of cleaning to keep pace with the 21st century clean technology that our era affords us.Our knowledge-sharing and scientific research, along with more up-to-date access to information, allows the general public to learn that we are overcleaning – killing a lot of our good bacteria along with using products that are becoming detrimental to our health and the environment.

In the late 19th century, German physician Robert Koch discovered that certain bacteria caused specific diseases; this was an important discovery, and our sanitation and cleanliness dramatically improved. But, do we need to kill “99.9% of bacteria?” No. Too much cleaning is bad for us. We live in an age of cleanliness, with the promise of household cleaners and hand soaps killing 99.9% of germs and bacteria. Extensive research now shows that killing 99.9% of bacteria is not only attacking the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria necessary for strengthening our immune system let alone the negative effect this has on our eco system. We are not protecting ourselves by over cleaning; we are causing the breakdown of our own eco-system and the efficacy of antibiotics to kill in the event of a pandemic.

We are slowly moving away from the multi-decade focus on killing all bacteria via soaps, detergents and hand sanitizers, to a new understanding as to how our complex human bodies work. We are, as humans, built up of microbial matter and cells. We have over 100 trillion microbes in and on our bodies, and we now have the knowledge to challenge the previously held notion of good and bad bacteria. We need to create a balance with the microbial world (microbial to human cells for the average man of 1.3:1).

Now, without getting too scientific here, what I am really trying to say is that we need a major shift in our thinking and for the sake of our good health and that of our children let them ‘play in the dirt’, to enable their immune systems to develop with the right amount of bacteria.

While over-washing with regular soap is bad enough, many of us lather up daily with foaming and antibacterial soaps and scrubs, and clean our homes with antibacterial cleaning products. The principal ingredient in these products is a chemical known as triclosan, which was originally introduced as a pesticide in the 1960s, and is still used in pesticide applications today. Along with its pesticide function, triclosan appears in about 75% of all soaps, toothpastes and deodorants sold in the US and worldwide. The dangers of this chemical are becoming more widely known; it is linked to estrogen disruption, has been associated with encouraging an earlier onset of puberty, and can accumulate in fat tissues. It has been found in human blood, breast milk and urine samples. However, it’s not all doom and gloom; the FDA has now mandated all companies in the USA to remove this chemical by September 2017.

Another foaming agent found in commercial products is SLS (Sodium Laureth Sufate); it contains ingredients that can cause the following: Irritation of the skin and eyes, organ toxicity, developmental/reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, ecotoxicology, biochemical or cellular changes and possible mutations and cancer. I strongly believe that larger corporations have to take responsibility for the ingredients used in chemical products both for commercial and personal use.

It’s not so much about how often we should clean, but more importantly to educate people how to clean effectively in order to achieve the balance for our eco system. Many are unaware of the fact that excessive chemical products used in cleaning have a detrimental effect on our health and our water systems, coupled with the fact that our waste water treatment plants are not built or able to purify this kind of pollution. Every single chemical used eventually ends up in the water that surrounds us, our ground, lakes, rivers and seas and thereby harming the environment.

We need to clean effectively and efficiently while paying due attention to health and the environment using new clean technology which achieves the balance for supporting our eco system. A plant will thrive with adequate water, overwatering will kill it.

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On average, how many bacteria does a normal person have on one hand? You probably can’t think of it: 10 to the 8th power.

“The most common infectious diseases, such as respiratory infections, such as colds, pneumonia, measles, chickenpox, etc., can be spread by hand; and gastrointestinal infectious diseases such as diarrhea, especially autumn diarrhea, more than half are passed. Hand spread and infected.” Pediatric experts say that at least one-third of the hundreds of small patients received each day are diarrhea, and most of them do not have the usual habit of washing their hands frequently.

The survey showed that hand washing can reduce the diarrhea mortality rate by half and the acute respiratory infection rate by one-third. That is to say, good hand washing habits can save millions of children every year, which is more useful than any vaccine or medical intervention.

Actively promote hand washing, not only can prevent skin infections, eye infections, intestinal parasitic diseases, influenza and other diseases, but also reflect a person’s social status and education.

To this end, the World Health Organization specifically set the October 15th of each year as a “Global Handwashing Day” in 2008 to encourage the public, especially children, to wash their hands with soap.

Some people will say

Wash your hands, it’s very simple.

Can it be washed and washed?

NONONO, washing hands is easy, but washing your hands correctly is not easy!

The time to wash your hands with soap

⊙ wear contact lenses

⊙If there are infants and young children in the family, before holding the children and feeding the children’s food and after handling the baby’s stool

⊙ Outdoor sports, after playing

After going to the supermarket or shopping mall, after shopping

⊙When there are many people with more cars, after having physical contact with strangers

⊙Contacted public items, such as elevator handrails, buttons

⊙ After touching the pet

After touching the coins

Sneeze and sneeze with your hands behind your nose and mouth

⊙ take medicine, before applying the medicine to the wound

Before and after glutinous rice

How to wash your hands properly

Washing your hands may seem simple, but many people don’t “wash their hands properly.” Now the following picture shows the washing method.

The seven steps for washing hands is for your reference:

hand washing, hand clean, hand hygiene, rub hands steps

rub hands, step 2, cross hands, infection control

hand clean, hand washing

hand washing, cleaning hands, rub with alcohol

hand disinfection, hand cleaning, washing

WHO hands washing steps, cleaning, hygiene

-END-

Smart, have you learned?

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