Bacteria Fighting Mom Banned From McDonald's

[tropicsgoddess]

This mom is on a mission to fight the unsanitary conditions in the Mickey D's playplace area for children but has been banned for doing so.

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...rom-mcdonalds/

[Rageaholic]

I don't know what to think about this. She sounds nutty and fanatical, but if the McDonalds play areas are as bad as she says they are, than maybe something needs to be done.

[bara]

I almost hate to say this but...

In other news water is wet and the sun is hot. I can see where she is coming from though I have to wonder if she is legitimately concerned or not. Id like to see an actual scientific study done on this. You know, by professionals and not by a bunch of helicoptor parents with to much time on thier hands.

On the other hand I dont want every place in the world to get flooded with anti bacteria chemicals, all that does is make resistant strains.

[Rapscallion]

The alternative to all this hysteria about bacteria is hysteria about chemicals.

Counting down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Rapscallion

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It's not like we don't know the place is filthy. I see her point, and they probably need to do more cleaning than they do in there, but she''s hardly coming up with a scientific breakthrough here.

We go home and WASH. Thoroughly.

[Panacea]

There's credible evidence that the paranoia over disinfecting EVERYTHING is making us more susceptible to disease because our immune systems don't develop fully.

A fast food playroom is a dining area in an indoor playground. Therefore it is subject to Public Health Department rules on sanitation. She should have called the health department.

She strikes me as an OCD bacteriaphobe.

[Nyoibo]

You get a lot of those same bacteria from swabs of almost anything, the question is, what was the size of the presence of these bacteria.

Any way, it these places were as bad as she's making them out to be then there'd be sick kids by the hundreds in hospital, there aren't, this is just a chance for the kids immune systems to flex their muscles, unfortunately it's also a chance for a germophobe to run off at the mouth with her "crusade"

[MaggieTheCat]

There's credible evidence that the paranoia over disinfecting EVERYTHING is making us more susceptible to disease because our immune systems don't develop fully.

(snip)

She strikes me as an OCD bacteriaphobe.

My brother's girlfriend is pretty ocd about this too. She keeps a bottle of that alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel in her purse, in her car, and in practically every room of their apartment, and she uses it ALL THE TIME. Get in the car, sanitize. Get out of the car, sanitize. Open the door to a building, sanitize. Make a purchase in a shop, sanitize. Wash your hands in the bathroom, sanitize sanitize sanitize. It's kind of ridiculous. And then she wonders why her and her daughter get sick several times a year. "But we wash and sanitize our hands so often!"

[bara]

The alternative to all this hysteria about bacteria is hysteria about chemicals.

Counting down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Rapscallion

Well, drenching an area in killer chemicals cant be all that healthy either. Of course... I can also see the complaints about the play are being closed for its disinfection cleaning causing one hell of a headache for the poor clerks too.


'But I only came here for the play area, open it noooowwwwww!' In a typical whiny EW voice. Probably delivered while the kids are happily playing with a food wrapper or something.

[lordlundar]

I wonder if she takes her kids to a local park and what she does in that case.

After all, there's more bacteria in a playground than there ever could be in one of those McDonald's play area.

[Android Kaeli]

And people wonder why they get sick all the time.

I don't get sick that often, maybe twice every four to five years -- I get headaches more often then I get sick. Then again I don't worry about every single germ that I get, I still wash my hands several times a day and take a shower once a day. I use hand santizier when I can, I have a bunch of them.

If the mother is THAT worried about a McDonald's playpen then maybe the best course of action was not to let her children go into one?

[Nyoibo]

I wonder if she takes her kids to a local park and what she does in that case.

After all, there's more bacteria in a playground than there ever could be in one of those McDonald's play area.

Ah, but playgrounds don't have lots and lots of money to start a class action against to get hold of.

[BlaqueKatt]

You get a lot of those same bacteria from swabs of almost anything, the question is, what was the size of the presence of these bacteria.

Yup, Listeria, Salmonella, e. coli, fecal coliforms, and even the dreaded botulism are all found naturally in the soil, so if I swabbed your shoes and floors, I'd find one of them. Unless you bleach EVERYTHING at least once an hour or more.(my shoes are doused with proquat before I leave the lab, and I have specific "lab shoes" at work)

And an environmental swab, unless it plated onto petrifilm to get an accurate count, is enriched to make the bacteria increase to a detectable level. A positive/negative test(enrichment) is much cheaper than a total bacteria count(petrifilm)

[mikoyan29]

My brother's girlfriend is pretty ocd about this too. She keeps a bottle of that alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel in her purse, in her car, and in practically every room of their apartment, and she uses it ALL THE TIME. Get in the car, sanitize. Get out of the car, sanitize. Open the door to a building, sanitize. Make a purchase in a shop, sanitize. Wash your hands in the bathroom, sanitize sanitize sanitize. It's kind of ridiculous. And then she wonders why her and her daughter get sick several times a year. "But we wash and sanitize our hands so often!"

Sanitizers are what, 99% effective? Bacteria grow back pretty quickly, so probably within a day or so, the bacteria have grown back. But instead of the weak ones, you get a bunch of ones that stood up to the sanitizer.

[Racket_Man]

and people wonder why we now have things like MRSA and drug resistant Tubreculosis (sp) and the like. and the number of strains are rising yearly. the immune system needs a workout to be effective not just the immunizations you get as a child. yes those are important but as strains change and mutate things get worse.

the amount of antibiotics we get dosed with just through the meat supply is incredible, not to mention growth hormones.

how long before our germaphobe attitudes produce one or more "bugs" we can't control. the way we are going these days is "not long". and what will happen then????