Tom Spears
OTTAWA — Men are pigs. Science just proved it for good.
Most men either don’t wash their hands in public washrooms, or just rinse with water. Then they go and meet people and shake hands.
Conclusion: Eww.
Second conclusion: Women are a lot cleaner.
Michigan State University was sneaky in its survey of 3,749 adults in washrooms in bars, restaurants and other public places around Lansing, Michigan.
It recruited 12 students to do the dirty work, skulking in washrooms, hiding the fact that they were taking notes on their smart phones.
Their findings, as reported in the Journal of Environmental Health:
* Fifteen per cent of men don’t wash after relieving themselves, compared with five per cent of women.
* Of the men who did wash, only half used soap. The others rinsed with water alone.
Among women, 78 per cent used soap.
* People were less likely to wash if the sink was dirty. But they were more likely to wash their hands if a sign asked them to.
* People were less likely to wash late in the day.
* Only five per cent of the overall group did a thorough wash — 15 to 20 seconds of vigorous scrubbing.
The lead scientist on the project is Carl Borchgrevink, a business professor with a background in the hospitality industry, especially sanitation.
The 12 students, he says, were “horrified” by what they saw.
Quick rinsing in water won’t clean hands, Borchgrevink says. (The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back him up on this.)
“If you have dirt and grime on your hands, that’s not going to dislodge it,” he said.
“You’re trying to dislodge it and have the surfactant in the soap pick it up and flush it down the drain.”
A surfactant is a chemical that allows water to pick up dirt, oil and grease.
He also likes drying with a towel rather than an air blower. A paper towel rubs off more dirt, and he uses the towel to grab the door handle on the way out so that he won’t pick up germs left by those who didn’t wash.
When his results became public, “people were horrified that only five per cent are washing properly … and even more horrified that 15 per cent of men don’t even touch the sink.”
But handshakes and direct contact between people will never go away, he says — and they shouldn’t.
“I still do that (shake hands) but afterwards I might look for a place to wash my hands or use (disinfectant) gel,” he said.
“We still need to shake hands … The social world is still going to be there and we still need to live in it.”
tspears@ottawacitizen.com
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