Public Toilets are Cleaner Than Shopping Carts
What's worse than sticking your hand down a public toilet? Gripping a shopping cart, apparently. A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona found that of 87 shopping cart handles examined, 72 percent had markers for fecal matter. And of those 87 carts, 36 had E. coli. Just how bad is that?
"That's more than you find in a supermarket's restroom," said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. "That's because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts."
That's bad. And what about reusable shopping bags? According to Gerba:
"It's like wearing the same underwear every day."
