A recently concluded study by Britain’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that less than one third of men and two thirds of women washed their hands with soap after using the toilet.  The study observed that people were more likely to wash their hands if they were shamed or thought someone was watching them.  The researchers placed electronic message boards in various restrooms around Britain flashing messages such as: “Soap it off or eat it later.”  “Don’t take the loo with you – wash with soap.”  The most successful message and the one that caused an 11% increase in the use of soap by both men and women was: “Is the person next to you washing with soap?”

I don’t know how much money these British scientists spent on this exhaustive study, but had they come to me, I guarantee that I could have saved them 99% of their budget.  I’ve seen enough disgusting behavior from our species to conclude that we basically are a nasty and unhygienic lot.  This is especially so of the male of our species, as the study so overwhelmingly showed.  Whether it’s picking their noses and dining on some “mucous a la carte” while driving down the freeway; or after using the toilet, standing in front of the sink with the tap running, combing their hair with their fingers, in a feeble attempt to convince everyone in the restroom that they are washing their hands, I’ve seen it all.  Don’t get me wrong.  The female of the species is not totally excused from this nauseating behavior, it’s just that males seem to take it to a much lower level.  Men seem to think that if they touch a dirty toilet, and then touch themselves, there’s no need to wash with soap as they are somehow cleansed by some miraculous “divine sanitation.”

Some of my fellow Jamaicans may be saying to themselves: “See, I told you that these white folks were nasty!”  Please! Don’t kid yourselves into thinking that these statistics only apply to the Caucasians among us.  I don’t know if the percentages would have been any better had the research been done in the Caribbean, but this is no British phenomenon.  The males of our species the world over need to clean up their act.

There is an episode of the sitcom Sienfeld, where his girlfriend mistakenly thinks that she saw him picking his nose.  She breaks up with him over the incident and even though he had not picked his nose, he goes on to berate her about a man’s right to pick his nose in peace if he so desires.  Maybe if more women derided their mates about their toilet habits, the male percentage from the British study would have been higher.  Maybe these men will forever need the Mommies to keep telling them to wash their hands and to assure them that the ten seconds it takes won’t diminish the machismo many of their psyches thrive upon.

Old time people in Jamaica used to say that you shouldn’t eat at anyone else’s house unless you know their personal hygiene.  After living 24 years in the U.S., I still follow that advice.  I try not to eat out too much, but sometimes you just can’t avoid eating from people who you don’t know.  We have a saying in Jamaica that says: “Wha nu kill, fatten.” (“What doesn’t kill, fattens.”).  So you roll the dice and hope that you’ll live to tell the tale.  Unfortunately, the world is now faced with a new pandemic called the H1N1 swine flu and “what fattens, might just kill.”  This flu, which is more virulent than the regular seasonal influenza, has killed about 5,000 worldwide and 1,000 in the U.S. to date.  What’s the best (and cheapest) way that experts are saying to slow the spread of this dangerous microbe?  Penicillin?  Quarantines?  No……it’s washing our hands!  The simple act of washing our hands will greatly slow down the spread of a virus that is killing otherwise healthy people.  Though, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the regular flu kills about 36,000 people in the U.S. annually, swine flu has the potential to do greater damage.  The low numbers for swine flu deaths so far can be attributed to the early proactive approach internationally to fight the virus.

Folks, please remind your children to wash their hands with soap before they eat, after they finish playing outside and first thing when they come home from school as they are more prone to catching the swine flu.  Adults should also follow this same advice.  When you come home from work, wash your hands – who knows how many toilets you shook hands with while at work!  You may roll your eyes at the simplicity of the request, but this simple act could save your or your child’s life.  And if this column somehow embarrasses you, then good!  That was the point of the British study.

Writers note: A very dear friend of mine, Andrene Bonner, has published her first book entitled Olympic Gardens.  For those who are nostalgic about Jamaica in the 1960s or just curious about another culture, this award-winning book will make you laugh and cry.  Please contact Ms. Bonner at:

Andrene Bonner
32 North 7th Avenue
Suite 1N
Mount Vernon, NY 10550
914-668-5836
abwrites2@aol.com
http://andrenebonner.wordpress.com