What can I really get from a toilet seat?
Asked by
tinyfaery (
44243
)
October 28th, 2008
from iPhone
Do I really need to use toilet seat covers if the toilet seat is not disgustingly dirty?
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9 Answers
a cold butt, that’s for sure
If you have an open wound on your bottom you could catch all sorts of stuff but if your skin is intact and healthy then you should be OK.
Can bacteria, germs and the like really live very long on a cold, hard surface?
You can’t get anything from a toilet seat, it’s just an old wives tale. There was a Showtime show called Bullsh!t with Penn and Teller and they did a whole episode investigating what it’s possible to catch from a toilet seat, and the answer was not much. Skin to porcelain contact isn’t all that effective in transferring viruses and bacteria, and the toilet seat is a less then ideal place for bacteria to live and grow. It’s not dark enough or wet enough or porous enough for anything to really grow.
You actually can catch MORE germs from using your hand to open the door of a bathroom or to shake someone’s hand.
Penn and Teller! Penn Jillette is one of my favorite people for naming his daughter Moxie Crimefighter Jillette. Crimefighter is her middle name!
I never use those covers and never have gotten anything. If the rest room is flithy, I try to go somewhere else. I even used a disgusting port-a-potty in Rome, Italy because I really had to go and (thankfully) caught nothing.
(and it was nasty—I had to wade thru pee…ugh)
I don’t use the covers because they stick to your butt…I had one sticking out of my jeans once. Never again.
And, I’m waaaaay older than you, so it’s more than just luck!
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