Thread: 5 second rule

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

Do you have any idea how much bacteria you ingest everyday? By the logic of "avoid it because it has bacteria on it," how sheltered would your life be? Did you know that the ice that comes out of soda fountains in even some of the cleanest fast-food chains in the planet have more bacteria than most toilet water? If you've gone all day doing God knows what, and then you realize you have a cut on your lip, do you rush to a sink to wash and sanitize your hands before stretching your lip in a mirror to investigate the wound? How often do you wash your hands after handling money?

The point is that bacteria is everywhere. There is no steering clear of it. 5-second-rule scenarios are never objective, because you are bound to pick up more germs doing everyday activities. I have no problem with someone saying they won't pick up something that's fallen on the floor and eat it because they just believe it to be nasty. That's all fine and good. But when people start touting the "dangers of germs" and "but it's got bacteria on it!" as if they are going to become noticeably infected with something because they picked up a potato chip that fell on their living room floor, I have to kind of roll my eyes at them.

I know bacteria is everywhere, but not all bacteria is dangerous. I don't ingest Salmonella everyday, I don't ingest E.coli O157:H7 everyday, I don't ingest C. jejuni, and I don't ingest C. perfringens ever day. If I did I'd obviously be in the hospital/dead. I've already stated I see no problem in eating a chip that falls on the floor in your own house, as long as it's clean and there are no pets roaming around, but would you eat a chip that fell onto the ground outside? I mean, if you want to eat something that fell where an animal's fecal matter was recently there or something, be my guest. Would you eat your chicken strips you accidentally dropped in a restaurant? There's no telling what else has been on that restaurant floor, not to mention all the shoes that have recently touched it, would you lick the bottom of your shoes, what about 100+ other people's shoes? I'm sure you would since you'd eat something that possibly fell where they just touched. Would you drink water from a pond outside, or from a flowing stream? I heard Cholera is a fun thing to get. If I have a dry food item fall on the floor in my own house, sure I'll eat it because the floors are cleaned all the time and we don't wear shoes, and we have no pets. I'll blow it off first though. But if I'm somewhere besides my own house where I have no idea what's been on the floors or anything else and I drop food, I'm throwing it away. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Originally Posted by stonedape

Too bad we don't have this system in our bodies that fights germs. If you avoid all contact with germs your immune system will be weak. We live in a fairly clean society. At least my house is clean.

I avoid contact with germs. I wash my hands after coming into contact with anything I see as unhealthy. I refuse to drink after people or finish eating something someone didn't finish. I wash my hands after I use the bathroom, after I come from outside, touch an animal/pet, after I do anything I find to be dirty. I wash my hands before/after I touch food. I can hang around people with strep throat, the flu, a cold, and no telling what else and never (except for a cold every now and then) catch it. Even when I get a cold it never lasts long and it isn't even bad, all it usually does to me is give me a runny nose. I can stick around my house/around my family when they have stomach viruses, etc. etc., and never get anything. I haven't been to the doctor's office since I was in the 6th grade due to sickness, and I haven't had a cold in about 2 years. Since I avoid germs, my immune system must be horrendously weak. Therefore, I've came to the conclusion I must be superhuman since I've went so long without being sick and being around so many sick people.