GET WITH THE PROGRAM
November 6, 2009 - 11:55am
Dr. Oz dishes the dirt on germs
With H1N1 hysteria sweeping the country and hand sanitizer selling out like crazy, it’s easy to turn into a total germaphobe. Do we stop handling money, touching door handles and shaking people’s hands? Or do we go about our day as normal?
Dr. Oz’s advice back in September was pretty confusing. He was pro-vaccine yet revealed he wouldn’t be giving the shot to his wife or kids. "You’ve got to think of this like a hurricane warning," he explained. "We’re not saying, ‘Panic! Bad things are happening.’ Something is coming at us. You can choose how you respond."
And now our friend Mehmet has warned us of the hidden health dangers we may encounter while grocery shopping. Last year 76 million Americans got sick from contaminated food, over 300,000 ended up in the hospital and five million didn’t make it out. So where are these dangers lurking? Don’t read this while eating lunch.
When you grab an apple in the produce section, you will likely have been the 20th person to touch it. That apple’s been hand-picked by the farmer, thrown in a truck, sorted, boxed and fondled by customers. It’s common sense really, but a pretty nasty thought nonetheless. Even when you’re at home and you’re nonchalantly cutting up a melon or an avocado and getting rid of the skin that’s been squeezed a hundred times, it’s common to spread bacteria from the outside to the inside via the knife.
Dr. Oz keeps forgetting one important thing:
KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE FLOOR, NOT ON THE FURNITURE.
I was in my mother's retirement home the other week and had to ask an ignorant young woman working there to get her running shoes off the sink where they make tea and coffee. Are you kidding me? Are these people brought up in a barn?