Going green could be bad for you

[GlassSlipper]

There has been a study done that tested 6 brands of commercial paper towels and found that although they all had bacteria, the one that was made from recycled matter was much higher. How gross. You can check out the rest of the article here.

 

[ComingUpDaisy]

Wow, I guess that is a great reason to use the air dryer from here on out. That is kind of nasty to think that you go through the trouble of washing your hands and then the towel you dry them with covers your hands in bacteria anyway.

 

[melaniedupris]

Where is this article? I'd love to see the actual research that backs this all up. I would always expect for anything green to be safer for the environment than regular products!

 

[hunysukle]

Very interesting article. I never thought about green paper towels being worse for you. While that may be true about green paper towels, I still will keep using other green products. Very rarely are green products worse for you.

 

[amy71219]

That's why you should use unpaper towels.

 

[Victor Leigh]

How about just learning to live and let live? I mean we can really go overboard with this anti-septic thing. In the end we will end up with very weak immunity systems. So I would suggest the better way to go about it is to eat healthy, exercise properly and build up our natural defenses. Of course, live clean, too, but not to the point of being obsessively clean.

 

[SoftRain]

I agree with Amy and Victor. Use cloth towels and change them frequently, and let your immune system work for you a bit. Our bodies are designed to fend off bacteria, you can't avoid it completely, and you'll go crazy trying.

 

[Trudy]

I have needed a reason to cut down on our use of paper towels. We use far more than we should be using. I just don't like all those dirty rags hanging around and don't like doing a load of laundry for the small amount we use in a day or two. Paper products have gotten so expensive.

 

[lettuce]

If this were really a problem, recycled materials would be banned. All recycled materials get cleaned before they go into production. If the bacteria count were truly at an unhealthy level, the towels would be pulled from the market. This article just sounds like your typical scare piece.

 

[chabella]

That is a little scary to think about and I wonder if its all recycled paper towels or any recycled product period. Its worth looking into and the thought will be on my mind when I pick up some new ones tomorrow since we are almost out.

 

[classicnyer]

That's why you should use unpaper towels.

I agree. You'll also save money by using cloth towels and washing them rather than constantly buying paper towels.

 

[artistry]

That's why I never, ever buy recycled toilet paper. I don't think they should even make it or sell it. Gross! Sorry.

 

[Esperahol]

If this were really a problem, recycled materials would be banned. All recycled materials get cleaned before they go into production. If the bacteria count were truly at an unhealthy level, the towels would be pulled from the market. This article just sounds like your typical scare piece.

Actually there are two things at play in this question. The first thing is that so long as a particular product scores lower than a certain level it is considered acceptable and will be entered into the market.

The second factor is that the towels may well be fine in the production area (I am making no promises on that - I use to work in manufacturing), but be very prone to holding infectious agents in the field. Meaning that because of the material and or how the material was made it is now an excellent breeding place for germs.

 

[SifuPhil]

"Green" has become the new banner for the people that think they're saving the world by buying anything labeled that way, and the marketers KNOW that. But the products are still going to be prone to all the problems that the non-green ones have.

Far better I think to cut your consumption than seek alternative ways of wasting resources.

 

[classicnyer]

"Green" has become the new banner for the people that think they're saving the world by buying anything labeled that way, and the marketers KNOW that. But the products are still going to be prone to all the problems that the non-green ones have.

Far better I think to cut your consumption than seek alternative ways of wasting resources.

Well, there are certain things that will be difficult to cut consumption on. As somebody mentioned, you could use un-paper towels, but... what about toilet paper? It's difficult to cut consumption on that.

 

[SifuPhil]

Well, there are certain things that will be difficult to cut consumption on. As somebody mentioned, you could use un-paper towels, but... what about toilet paper? It's difficult to cut consumption on that.

True, true. We might follow the European example and use bidets, but then we'd be using more water. Not sure which is more wasteful, but I DO know that toilet paper, even recycled, takes longer to break down ...

 

[Ankh]

There has been a study done that tested 6 brands of commercial paper towels and found that although they all had bacteria, the one that was made from recycled matter was much higher. How gross. You can check out the rest of the article here.

Thats insane. I often wonder about some of the recycled paper I buy. It always looks so gray and "grainy". I just don't know about it all.

 

[shaunche]

Haha, this is disgusting. I've never used recycled toilet paper or paper towels, the idea of using recycled paper towels doesn't appeal to me. Steps like this are futile anyway, the actions we make have virtually no impact on the environment in the grand scheme of the global economy. We need a new economic system to overcome the problem, not recycled toilet paper for 1% of the population.

 

[SifuPhil]

Haha, this is disgusting. I've never used recycled toilet paper or paper towels, the idea of using recycled paper towels doesn't appeal to me. Steps like this are futile anyway, the actions we make have virtually no impact on the environment in the grand scheme of the global economy. We need a new economic system to overcome the problem, not recycled toilet paper for 1% of the population.

But using them makes many people feel better.

In the end, though, every little action that we perform that saves resources helps the Earth. If everyone had thought this way at the dawn of time - to use only what we need and then replace it - we wouldn't be in the fix we're in now.

 

[Penny Royal]

What about the studies that say we are too paranoid about germs? Apparently, some scientists believe that a lot of the autoimmune problems are due to the immune system not having enough to do because we are such clean freaks. Maybe a little germs are okay. We live in a bacteria-filled universe. We take bacteria in with every breath.

As long as there are no epidemics around, I wouldn't sweat the small stuff.