Washing your hands with warm water does not kill bacteria

Many people believe that washing hands with warm water will kill all bacteria. But that is not true. Do not kill all bacteria, even waste energy.

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Amanda R. Carrico, assistant professor of research at the Vanderbilt Institute of Energy and Environment in Tennessee told National Geographic newspaper that many people believe that washing hands with warm water brings the best results, but actually is outdated and inaccurate. Because the temperature of warm water cannot kill all bacteria.

Washing hands with warm water is an indirect cause of environmental pollution

Carrico also said, washing hands with cold water can reduce bacteria equivalent to warm water if the hands are washed and dried properly.

So why do we have to wash our hands with warm water while research has shown that nearly 800 billion US hand washes annually discharge more than 6 million tons of CO ₂ emissions.

This is equivalent to the emissions of two coal-fired power plants or 1.25 million passenger cars operating in a year. It is even higher than the greenhouse gas emissions of small countries like El Salvador or Armenia, and is equivalent to the emissions of Barbados.

If all US citizens wash their hands with cold water, it will significantly reduce carbon emissions because hot water has accounted for 15% of the energy used (in the US and European Union countries).

Carrco, like scientists, hopes everyone is fully aware of hand washing to protect our planet.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend that you wash your hands properly with soap and water, not necessarily warm water, scrub for 20 seconds and then wash and dry thoroughly. all.

Thus, changing awareness and habits is also a simple way to protect the environment.