Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerardstolk/3041762506/">Gerard Stolk</a>/ Creative Commons
An “antimicrobial protection” firm called BioCote has come out with a new study that says that English ATMs are as dirty as the average toilet. Since BioCote manufactures antimicrobial coatings, there’s an obvious conflict of interest here. But let’s put that aside for a moment. If ATMs are as “dirty” as toilets, should we worry?
According to BioCote statements to the Daily Mail, the company found pseudomonads and bacillus bacteria on ATMs. What they didn’t mention is that both these bacteria are very common, and are not a danger to healthy people. In a way, BioCote has shown that ATMs are just as clean as toilets.
That’s saying something: Neither toilets nor ATMs are as dirty as cell phones which, according to one study, have 18 times more germs than the flush lever on a toilet. This makes sense when you consider we humans carry around 150 species of bacteria on our hands, so the less often a thing is touched by humans, the cleaner it will be. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “sh*t-talking,” don’t it?
