Gaia Desert

The media really picked up on this story . Only ~5% of everyone surveyed in Loma Linda wash their grocery bags. Dr. Germ really knows how to spark the public's interest in hygiene! Most foodborne illnesses are believed to originate in the home. Reuse of bags creates an opportunity for cross contamination of foods. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential for cross contamination of food products from reusable bags used to carry groceries. Reusable bags were collected at random from consumers as they entered grocery stores in California and Arizona. In interviews it was found that reusable bags are seldom if ever washed and often used for multiple purposes. Large numbers of bacteria were found in almost all bags and coliform bacteria in half. Escherichia coli were identified in 12% of the bags and a wide range of enteric bacteria, including several opportunistic pathogens. When meat juices were added to bags and stored in the trunks of cars for two hours the number o

The media really picked up on this story . Only ~5% of everyone surveyed in Loma Linda wash their grocery bags. Dr. Germ really knows how to spark the public's interest in hygiene! Most foodborne illnesses are believed to originate in the home. Reuse of bags creates an opportunity for cross contamination of foods. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential for cross contamination of food products from reusable bags used to carry groceries. Reusable bags were collected at random from consumers as they entered grocery stores in California and Arizona. In interviews it was found that reusable bags are seldom if ever washed and often used for multiple purposes. Large numbers of bacteria were found in almost all bags and coliform bacteria in half. Escherichia coli were identified in 12% of the bags and a wide range of enteric bacteria, including several opportunistic pathogens. When meat juices were added to bags and stored in the trunks of cars for two hours the number of

A May 31 article in the New Yorker is titled "The Plastic Panic" .  It discusses the dangers of  Bisphenol A  (BPA) and our government's response to plastics.  Although BPA commonly found in nalgene bottles is a health hazard when heated, I have not seen evidence against consuming water heated in polyethylene terphalate (i.e. PET or coke bottle plastic type 1). For this reason I still promote Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) in used PET or glass bottles. The method was featured in the February National Geographic on Water and is described on by the EAWAG group in Switzerland. This first study listed in the PET bottle research section of the SODIS website is a recent investigation of SODIS and plasticizers . The study shows that plasticizers in solar disinfected bottles are never more than the amount in newly purchased bottled water. Is there a health effect? The EAWAG group in Switzerland is still searching. One problem the recent New Yorker article mentions is th

As a gift, Sophea built a solar box cooker for work. This is an ideal lunch cooker. Its small, cute, and can handle one pan of lunch. Instead of using a microwave for that pasta you bring for lunch, why not use a solar cooker? Put the pasta in the solar cooker when you get to work, and by lunch, your food will be sizzling and hot.  The solar cooker can boil water and will keep things warm for a long time.  Also, you never have to worry about things burning in the solar cooker.  I built this one from a styrofoam box, an old scanner's glass (from LLU SPH), aluminum foil, blue masking tape, and some Arizona license plates spray painted black.   Two hour cooked eggs for Lunch on June 1st, 2010 I use it as an alternative to microwave ovens.  I use microwaves for lunch at work, but my soup usually spatters and I have to clean  up the microwave. With a personal solar box cooker you don't have to worry about that. You also never have to wait in line to microwave your food.  Ther

Dr. Charles Gerba Ph.D is also known as "Dr. Germ". He has multiple studies (~400) published on everything from toilet germs to water distribution systems.  He was quoted  here  in a piece on office health risk  published online by Yahoo .   Problem:  "The desk, in terms of bacteria, is 400 times more dirty than your toilet," University of Arizona microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba told WebMD (NASDAQ:  WBMD  - News ). "People turn their desks into bacteria cafeterias because they eat at them, but they never clean them. The phone is the dirtiest, the desktop is next, and the mouse and the computer follow." But bacteria problems at your desk could be more severe than Gerba thinks. Breadcrumbs and other food remnants get can get in between keys on your keyboard, attract rats and lead to unintended exposure to their germs. What's more, many raw and cooked foods need to remain refrigerated, and leaving them out for two hours or more is a food safety no-no. Pr

This was spotted by  Gayle Leonard's thirsty in Suburbia blog. This was reported this week at the ASM meeting in San Diego.  Canadian researchers have discovered that many popular brands of bottled water contain “surprisingly high” levels of  heterotrophic bacteria! The researchers presented their study results at the general meeting of the American Society of Microbiology in San Diego on May 26. According to their research, more than 70 percent of the popular brands of bottled water tested failed to meet standards. The standards are set by the United States Pharmacopeia, the non-governmental agency responsible for setting safety standards for medications and health care products. This sets the stage for many inquiries to the bottled water industry. Shouldn't it be safer than tap water? Why are they regulated by the US Pharmacopeia and not the USEPA?  Maybe we should ask how often they are regulated. The questions go on. View an interesting video on this topic here .  

John Sauer, Communications Director of  of  Water Advocate s  has this blog from  the H uffington Post Why US Philanthropists Should Care About Sanitation and Water From Water Wired : This week was the the first High Level Meeting of Sanitation and Water for All, a global partnership aimed at achieving universal and sustainable access to sanitation and drinking-water for all.  The activities this week included the release of the  2010 GLAAS report  – the UN’s annual assessment of the sanitation and drinking water sector.  Water, Sanitation Funding Decline as Share Of Overall Development Aid, WHO Report Finds   Opinion: Toilets are not glamorous but they are necessary Sanitation for all - but not for another 300 years