Bowel Cancer (Health Institute - Govt of Australia)

Does flushing the toilet cause dirty water to be spewed around the bathroom? A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's Storehouse of Human Knowledge April 16, 1999 Dear Cecil: I read somewhere years ago that when you flush the toilet with the lid open, a plume of contaminated water droplets is ejected into the air and lands on everything in the bathroom, including (yuck) your toothbrush. — Katie Wolf, Toledo, Ohio Cecil replies: Opinions on this topic do seem to break down along male-female lines. You remembered right about toilet plume, although I think toilet "aerosol" is probably the more accurate term. In 1975 Professor Gerba published a scientific article describing the little-known phenomenon of bacterial and viral aerosols due to toilet flushing. As Professor Gerba's research would later determine, however, the bathroom was hardly the most dangerous part of the house, microbe-wise. Talk with this guy for a few minutes and you realize that everything people think they know about household cleanliness is wrong. Another thing. What to do? — Cecil Adams