Bleach causes more childhood infections: say wha?

Talk about counter-intuitive. Remember the old TV ad:
"Domestos kills all known germs. Dead."
Which I believe is more or less true. So how come a study in Europe showed the precise opposite, namely that in homes and schools where bleach was used extensively the children had higher rates of tonsillitis, influenza and other infections. What's going on?


For a number of years now there have been whisperings that we may have gone too far in our attempts to protect our children from the vicissitudes of life, always keeping them spotlessly clean and avoiding anything that might cause an allergy. Some workers have felt that it is actually vital for children to be exposed to the normal influences humans have evolved to deal with over thousands of years.


And this is what might explain these new research findings. By the extensive use of bleach we deny children the low level exposure to various pathogens they need to establish immunity. The same goes for allergies like peanuts. There must be some reason why more and more children are developing severe allergies, and I think it is because we do not allow them to experience a range of foods in early life so they can become accustomed to processing them.


So next time you berate your kids for getting all dirty out in the yard, maybe you should actually praise them. Sure, give 'em a good bath to wash off the dirt- but leave out the antiseptics- their own immune systems will do the job of protecting them just fine, without the "help" of bleach.