The plastic ducks that float in our tubs are nests for bacteria and fungi, according to a new study. Splashing around in their presence can therefore be dangerous for children’s health. Explanations.
According to a new study published in the journal Nature, playing with a plastic duck in your bath can be dangerous for children’s health.
Eye and ear irritation
DResearchers from the Eawag Water Research Institute, Zurich Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois (USA) soaked new plastic ducks in water for eleven weeks. clean water and others in used bath water containing soap scum, dirt, sweat and bacteria accompanying the human body.
After cutting them up and examining them in the lab, the researchers found that between 5 and 75 million cells had found a place on every square inch of plastic in contact with dirty water, and that 80% of new ducks soaked in the The used bath water had developed potentially pathogenic germs, in particular legionella and very resistant bacteria. What cause “irritations of the eyes and ears or gastrointestinal infections more problematic”, explains the microbiologist Frederik Hammes.
Hygiene recommendations
The interior of plastic ducks, which are more difficult to clean, concentrates the most germs dangerous to health. “When the child presses on his stomach to squirt the water, it is not uncommon for the jet to be brown in color”, underlines the study, the results of which can be applied to all plastics in regular and prolonged contact with used bath water.
To remedy this problem, the researchers suggest washing the inside of plastic ducks regularly, plugging the hole that makes the water squirt and especially toughening the regulations on the polymers used in the manufacture of toys intended to float in our rooms. bathtubs.
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