Here is a shiny new blog for my fellow students at aragon--i like to call them shlogs. Ever since the swine flu, people have been going through hand sanitizer like it's nobody's business. Hand sanitizer producers have been trying to keep up with the increasing demand for hand sanitizers, but producers are now worried that they might not be able to meet those demands. Short, right to the point, this slog is done.
If you want to learn more about it here are some links related to what i was talking about.
Links: http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/22/news/economy/hand_sanitizer/index.htm?section=money_latest, http://www.cfnews13.com/Health/YourHealth/2009/10/26/sanitizer_supply_shortage_a_growing_concern.html?cid=rss, http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20091025/COMMUNITIES/91024023/1005/news01/Hand-sanitizer-in-short-supply-in-Morris
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oh my. the great hand sanitizer famine of '09. I never thought I'd see this happen. On another note however, hand sanitizer isn't as good as everyone says it is. It does kill a TON of germs but then again it also kills microbes and bacteria that is a symbiont with out body. We feed it our dead skin, and in return it cleans it for us. This relationship is broken by the excessive hand sanitizer use which actually harms us. Basically, moderation is the key as always.
ps yay my first post where I post first
What Seth explained is really interesting. People tend to follow crowd without actually knowing what's happening or what they're doing. Another example is the belief that Vitamin C helps fight off colds. It actually doesn't (definitely a surprise to me). So I guess there's not need to stock up on orange juice during the winter. I've actually come across a few articles explaining this common misconception. Here's one of them:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/70628
I do have to admit though that I
didn't know that hand sanitizer isn't much of a help when it comes to germs. I'm still gonna use it though
I've heard about the common misconception about hand sanitizer that Seth already explained from Ms. Ward, which was really surprising the first time it was explained to me.
However, I remember on another occasion that Ms. Ward recommended drinking plenty of orange juice when sick. After reading the article Ariana linked to, I guess vitamin C really doesn't do much for the common cold!
"While the cold-killing effect may not exist, doctors have little incentive to correct the notion that it does, since consumption of vitamin C is not considered a public threat."
It was also good to learn this:
"some studies have associated vitamin C's antioxidant properties with a decreased incidence of some cancers."
Great article Ariana!=]
I agree with Seth. Hand sanitizer sounds fantastic, but the effect isn't as great. True, it does kill a ton of germs but it also eats away what protects our bodies. It does seem like many people use hand sanitizer even when they don't need it. They follow what others do.
It really shocks me to find out that Vitamin C doesn't really do much to help the common cold. I have always been told to drink plenty of orange juice whenever I get sick. Perhaps this is also a case where people follow other people and we soon hear about it ourselves, without knowing whether it is true or not. But we still do the same.
Hand Sanitizer may be nice to have but I was always wondering whether it is beneficial in the long run. True it may kill the bacteria on our hands in the current days, but what would happen later?
Bottles of sanitizer say 95-99% bacteria killed. What about the 1%? Would that 1% move on to develop a sort of resistance to the hand sanitizer rendering it useless in the future?
In response to Amos's post, no. The bacteria that survives cannot build up a resistance to the alcohol that is in hand sanitizer. Bacteria can build up resistance to antibacterial products like soap and medicine, but it cannot resist alcohol.
Honestly though in our society, hand sanitizer is the most practical thing we have even though it may not be the best thing for us. Like at Aragon, every office, counselor's office, or teachers classroom basically has a big bottle of hand sanitizer. It is a real bummer that there is a shortage of this product because it may be the most convenient way to prevent getting sick.
People depend on hand sanitizer way too much. Does it really take too much effort to walk into a bathroom and wash your hands? I think it's better to walk a few more steps and wash your hands properly. Not only will it reduce the chance of catching an illness, but you get in the few steps that you might not get during the day.
Now about the vitamin C topic. It actually does not help prevent or cure the common cold, but it is used more for a psychological effect than a therapeutic cure. Many many tests have shown that vitamin C does little to no effect for those with the common cold, but if people THINK that they're getting better, people actually recover faster. You're mind is a powerful thing, learn more about it in Psychology.
I agree with Seth. Hand santizer truely isn't as great as everyone makes it sound. It's even harmful for children due to the high levels of alcohol that are in hand sanitizers.
I say the best solution for preventing flus is washing your hands, as people who posted before me have said.
jeez I would never have thought that there would be a shortage of hand sanitizer.. I have a massive amount of unused sanitizer sitting in my bathroom. I am ggladd that i have this excess amount.
But i also think that people are using too much and are being too paranoid. Hand sanitizer is not the only thing that will help prevent swine flu.
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