More onerous regulations- washing hands after the toilet

[EVT1]

I really wonder about some of these folks:

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2015/02/03/the-next-public-health-debate-hand-washing/?tid=pm_politics_pop

     “As a matter of fact I think this is one where I think I can illustrate the point,” he recalled telling her. “I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says we don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom. The market will take care of that. It’s one example.” (Is requiring a sign not a regulation?)

     Updated at 5:30 p.m.: An Associated Press reporter caught up with Tillis on Capitol Hill, and the senator did not back down from his belief that businesses should “get to make that decision versus government.”

FDA bad!

[Peace Of Mind]

WTF?!  I'm so glad I don't patronize Starbucks!     I know there are gross people that work in restaurants, etc. that don't practice basic hygiene but to have the option of all staff opting out of basic hygiene practices while working with and serving food and beverages is disgusting and unprofessional IMO! 

[MarleyKeezy78]

I'll have mine with a side of ecoli please   I think the person who wants this in place deserves a little food poisoning 

[fairlycrazy23]

I agree that this not something the federal government should be involved in.

[cael]

....so there are people who really agree that there shouldn't be rules that food employees wash their hands after handling their genitals? Really? Something that simple that doesn't require funding or extra money or equipment? This is the dumbest example EVER of the government regulating businesses too much. I'm sure there are way less dumb examples (and I say this as a regulator) - but this? FFS.

As a health inspector I'm pretty appalled by that, and I'm not even a germophobe and will eat at (mostly) any rat hole in the city.

(as a side note, most chains have their own rules about employee hygiene, in addition to any state codes they are required to abide by.)

[ArchietheDragon]

my genitalia are clean.     it is the pennies you should have to wash your hands after handling. 

[cael]

I read 'penises' instead of 'pennies' then was led to question what type of genitalia Archie has...

[Opti]

This seems to be the typical let the market sort it out and businesses should

have more rights than consumers type belief that some on the right have.

Basically they want to push the risks and responsibilities on to consumers because

apparently certain regulations or expectations are just too much to ask. If opting

out of sanitation regulations becomes an option I would guess soon after that

they would be allowed to opt out notifying their customers as well, because the market

would take care of no sign, or a sign hidden behind a bench or garbage can.

Businesses overall do not have a good track record of doing the right thing. You don't

need to go back to the significant past to remember various issues with pharma and the

auto industry. Tillis can pretend that market forces are going to make it al better and

it would apparently be a good trade-off if businesses had less regulation even if you might

be in the dark longer about Tylenol tampering, tires with heat issues, your food being stored

at unsafe temperatures, problems with Toyotas not stopping ... because being less safe and

having more people sick and die is a good thing ... for some businesses and some conservatives.

www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2015/02/05/tillis-hand-washing-comments-reflect-a-dangerous-approach-to-public-safety

How far do we take the “market” approach? Should industries be able to toxic waste into rivers and oceans, on the theory that the bad press will make consumers boycott the companies and put them out of business? Should manufacturers be able to sell toxic toys, with the “market” correcting the situation when a few kids die and other parents take their toy-buying cash elsewhere? Should supermarkets be able to sell meat that is not U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected, on the assumption that if enough people die from E. coli, the supermarket will go out of business? Why, then, should we even have an Food and Drug Administration, a USDA, a Federal Trade Commission, or an Occupational Safety and Health Administration? What would the modern anti-regulation reaction be, today, to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory – that the “market” will take care of it, since desperately poor immigrants would know not to work there?

(Why do I keep feeling when some conservatives and Tea Party folk talk about personal responsibility

they mean you need to be responsible for more because I want to be responsible for less?)

[Opti]

“While intended to score political points with the Tea Party base, Tillis’ point mirrors a troubling trend in the rhetoric around government regulation,” writes Sarah Bufkin, on Bustle. “By placing public health and sanitation concerns firmly within the purview of the market, anti-regulation politicians merely transfer the risk from the business onto the customer.”

Indeed, a lot of experts argue the US hardly needs fewer regulations around food safety. As it is, health experts say, America does a poor job protecting its food supply. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 48 million cases of food-borne illness in the country every year, 3,000 of which end in death. While 15 agencies regulate food safety, the US government is only now setting a limit on salmonella in grocery store chicken parts.

www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2015/0204/Thom-Tillis-questions-food-workers-mandate-to-wash-hands.-Legitimate-or-gross-video

[zibazinski]

You don't have any proof employees wash their hands anyway. It's a sign in the bathroom. I don't wash my hands in the filthy public bathroom. I have hand sanitizer with me. To me, that's better than touching anything anyone else has touched. Of course I try desperately to never use a public restroom anyway. Btw, I also hand sanitize after I touch the menu. 

[cael]

Feb 6, 2015 10:09:12 GMT -5 Opti said:

How far do we take the “market” approach? Should industries be able to toxic waste into rivers and oceans, on the theory that the bad press will make consumers boycott the companies and put them out of business? Should manufacturers be able to sell toxic toys, with the “market” correcting the situation when a few kids die and other parents take their toy-buying cash elsewhere? Should supermarkets be able to sell meat that is not U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected, on the assumption that if enough people die from E. coli, the supermarket will go out of business? Why, then, should we even have an Food and Drug Administration, a USDA, a Federal Trade Commission, or an Occupational Safety and Health Administration? What would the modern anti-regulation reaction be, today, to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory – that the “market” will take care of it, since desperately poor immigrants would know not to work there?

So much

[Opti]

Feb 6, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

You don't have any proof employees wash their hands anyway. It's a sign in the bathroom. I don't wash my hands in the filthy public bathroom. I have hand sanitizer with me. To me, that's better than touching anything anyone else has touched. Of course I try desperately to never use a public restroom anyway. Btw, I also hand sanitize after I touch the menu. 

Correct, you don't. But to me that's even a better reason not to drop what regulation

we do have.

When it comes to people there is the human factor so nothing is guaranteed.

[zibazinski]

Ugh, if people knew everything about restaurant kitchens and servers cleanliness, they'd never eat out.

[cael]

I see it firsthand, and I still eat out. I dunno. Can't live in a bubble I guess and I won't skip things I want to do because of paranoia about the kitchen conditions... but that's just me. Then again I'm lucky to have never been seriously food poisoned.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Ugh, if people knew everything about restaurant kitchens and servers cleanliness, they'd never eat out.

Meh.  I've worked as a server off and on since I was 19.   Most of it doesn't really bother me.  Unless you are immune compromise a lot of what you see isn't going to harm you.   It's freaking gross but it isn't going to harm you.

I cracked up at the hysteria over lemons in the tea.  I was honestly surprised anyone was shocked by the "discoveries" made by the investigation team.   Yet have you ever read a story about someone getting sick from a lemon in their tea?

I'm much more worried about what happens to my food BEFORE it reaches the restaurant.   DH was a QA for a bacon plant and told me stories that will make your toes curl.  All the sanitation in the world at the restaurant isn't going to do any good if what they're cooking wasn't safe when it arrived.

[zibazinski]

Stop ruining bacon.  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Bacon is so delicious it's worth the risk.

[zibazinski]

   True.

[Tennesseer]

I just made a bacon, egg, suasage and cheese burrito for breakfast.  Delicious.

[zibazinski]

Drool, bacon....

[djAdvocate]

Feb 6, 2015 11:50:44 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I just made a bacon, egg, suasage and cheese burrito for breakfast.  Delicious.

there is a restaurant in town that makes one of those that must be 2000 calories.  every time i eat it, i gain weight.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

You know what's awesome? The Hammond Pigs & Taters chocolate bar.  It's a chocolate bar with bits of bacon and potato chips inside.

Thank God so far I've only found them at the Machine Shed in Des Moines.  If I could find them at a place I go regularly I'd be in trouble.

[Value Buy]

Feb 6, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

You don't have any proof employees wash their hands anyway. It's a sign in the bathroom. I don't wash my hands in the filthy public bathroom. I have hand sanitizer with me. To me, that's better than touching anything anyone else has touched. Of course I try desperately to never use a public restroom anyway. Btw, I also hand sanitize after I touch the menu. 

My problem in a public restroom, is after washing my hands is getting out of the restroom without contaminating one hand on the door to get out.

I cannot imagine what is actually on the door or handle.

If no paper towel is available, I am in trouble!

[Tennesseer]

Feb 6, 2015 13:01:47 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Feb 6, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

You don't have any proof employees wash their hands anyway. It's a sign in the bathroom. I don't wash my hands in the filthy public bathroom. I have hand sanitizer with me. To me, that's better than touching anything anyone else has touched. Of course I try desperately to never use a public restroom anyway. Btw, I also hand sanitize after I touch the menu. 

My problem in a public restroom, is after washing my hands is getting out of the restroom without contaminating one hand on the door to get out.

I cannot imagine what is actually on the door or handle.

If no paper towel is available, I am in trouble!

Toilet paper.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

If no paper towel is available, I am in trouble

use your foot.

Might have to take a few Yoga lessons first though.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 6, 2015 13:44:16 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

If no paper towel is available, I am in trouble

use your foot.

Might have to take a few Yoga lessons first though.

I have used my elbow a number of times.

[Deleted]

Feb 6, 2015 13:01:47 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Feb 6, 2015 10:15:04 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

You don't have any proof employees wash their hands anyway. It's a sign in the bathroom. I don't wash my hands in the filthy public bathroom. I have hand sanitizer with me. To me, that's better than touching anything anyone else has touched. Of course I try desperately to never use a public restroom anyway. Btw, I also hand sanitize after I touch the menu. 

My problem in a public restroom, is after washing my hands is getting out of the restroom without contaminating one hand on the door to get out.

I cannot imagine what is actually on the door or handle.

If no paper towel is available, I am in trouble!

Most of the public restrooms within a 100 radius from home have these little step things that you can hook your shoe on to open the door if it swings inward.  A salesman with a company that had a good idea, must of been making the rounds.

[zibazinski]

Why they don't have bathroom doors you can push on when you leave instead of pull is beyond me

[Deleted]

Feb 6, 2015 14:43:36 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Why they don't have bathroom doors you can push on when you leave instead of pull is beyond me

Maybe they figure your more in a hurry on the way in?

[NoNamePerson]

Feb 6, 2015 13:44:16 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

If no paper towel is available, I am in trouble

use your foot.

Might have to take a few Yoga lessons first though.