Scientific curiosity knows no bounds: A group of Swiss and US researchers have delved into “the dark side” of inviting rubber ducks and other flexible plastic toys into our tubs.
Any plastic materials dunked in bathwater provide ideal conditions for bacterial and fungal growth, according to the conclusions of the joint study, published on Tuesday by the Swiss government.
“Dense growths of bacteria and fungi are found on the inner surface of these flexible toys and a murky liquid will often be released when they are squeezed by a child,” the government statement said.
UNAPPETIZING
The researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School and the University of Illinois found that “diverse microbial growth is promoted not only by the plastic materials, but by bath users themselves.”
For their study, they carried out experiments with real bath toys and controls using new bath toys under conditions simulating household use.
Over a period of 11 weeks, they exposed some of the toys to clean and others to dirty bath water, containing things like soap and body fluids.
INSPECTION
When they cut open the toys, “the findings sound unappetizing: Between 5 million and 75 million cells per square centimeter were observed on the inner surfaces,” the summary of the report said.
The researchers said that there was a big difference between the plastic toys exposed to different types of water.
“Fungal species were detected in almost 60 percent of the real bath toys and in all the dirty-water control toys,” the statement said.
“Potentially pathogenic bacteria were identified in 80 percent of all the toys studied, including Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa,” which is often the culprit in hospital-acquired infections, it added.
TOSS
The main problem is that warm water gathers inside the toy, often made of low-quality polymers, which release organic carbon compounds that serve as nutrients to growing bacteria colonies.
“During bathing, other key nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as additional bacteria, are contributed by the human body [body fluids such as urine and sweat], external contaminants and personal care products,” the study said.
This allows bacteria and fungi to multiply inside of a toy children often enjoy using to squirt water into their faces.
“This could strengthen the immune system, which would be positive, but it can also result in eye, ear, or even gastrointestinal infections,” microbiologist Frederik Hammes said in Tuesday’s statement.
So should we toss the ducks out with the bathwater?
Or as some suggest on Internet comment forums, simply plug their holes to avoid the accumulation in their cavity?
Hammes suggested a more scientific approach: Tighter regulations on the polymeric materials used to produce bath toys.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
RSS