FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - how safe is it to drink water from faucet in airplane lavatories?

Jun 25, 2010 | 12:16 pm

#34

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Quote:

Originally Posted by pb3

It's supposed to kill 99.9% of all known germs - surely that's a good thing?

From the NY Times article I linked to upthread:

Dr. Ruebush, the “Why Dirt Is Good” author, does not suggest a return to filth, either. But she correctly points out that bacteria are everywhere: on us, in us and all around us. Most of these micro-organisms cause no problem, and many, like the ones that normally live in the digestive tract and produce life-sustaining nutrients, are essential to good health.

“The typical human probably harbors some 90 trillion microbes,” she wrote. “The very fact that you have so many microbes of so many different kinds is what keeps you healthy most of the time.”

Dr. Ruebush deplores the current fetish for the hundreds of antibacterial products that convey a false sense of security and may actually foster the development of antibiotic-resistant, disease-causing bacteria. Plain soap and water are all that are needed to become clean, she noted.