Electric hand dryers are environmentally beneficial, but they may conceal a filthy secret.
In an effort to preserve the environment, public restrooms have begun to use electric hand dryers in place of paper towels, but a frightening video suggests that it may have been for naught.
According to a disturbing video and research undertaken by an amateur scientist, dryers really harvest bacteria from the bathroom — possibly the last place you’d want the microbes to come from — which is then transported onto hands.
That implies that after washing your hands to remove germs, electric dryers may simply make them filthy again.
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TikToker @the_lab_life1 discovered the invisible bacteria by collecting samples from dryers in a shopping mall, a movie theatre, and her workplace and putting them in different Petri dishes.
After incubating the samples, she noticed that, with the exception of the air-dried plate, all three contained sticky, bubbling creatures.
The reason is that the hand dryers push bacterial aerosols from the restroom onto your hands, not that the machines are infested with bacteria.
While the laboratory scientist did not specify which bacteria were found, earlier research has shown that E. coli, hepatitis, and faecal bacteria can be found in public restrooms.
People are reconsidering using hands-free dryers, which promised to be more sanitary than machines with a push nozzle or a leveller for a paper towel sheet.
Users who were outraged by the findings left over two million likes and over 12,000 comments on the video.
Microbiologists compared jet air dryers to warm air dryers and paper towels in one research.
What they discovered was upsetting:
- At six different heights, the jet air dryer dispersed 20 times more virus than the warm air dryer and nearly 190 times more than paper towels.
- The virus had the greatest impact at 2 1/2 feet to 4.1 feet — around face level for a little child.
- At nine different distances, the jet air dryer threw out 20 times more viruses than the warm air dryer and almost 190 times more viruses than paper towels.
The operation of each approach aids in explaining the results. Jet air dryers move air sideways at great speeds. Evaporation is how warm air dryers function. Water is absorbed by paper towels.
“Drying your hands with paper towels not only dries them faster, but the friction also dislodges bacteria to leave them cleaner,” explains Dr. Lash-Ritter.
And what about those cotton towel dispensers? It’s best to stay away from them. The patch of cloth near the end of the roll is frequently used. Germs are transmitted from hand to hand.
