What to do about germs?

“Last week I saw on Dr. Oz's new show a pitch (from Dr. Oz) himself for a product called "HygeniClean UV-C Anti-Bacterial Light Wand" which supposedly kills bacteria and is practical to use on cell phones, purses, keyboards, and other hard-to-anti-bac places. My questions are : Would you buy it? Do you think your mother would buy it? Do you think this is the real deal? I am into the notion of being exposed to some germs for overall health-immunity purposes, but would like to avoid the nasty ones (think bottom of your shoes after a night out at a bar - ick!). It is $20 - worth it? How do I know if it works? Is it a truly a gimmick?.”

Ummm, sure, buy it. Seriously, what do I know? I wouldn’t buy it because I am really not that worried about germs, but then again I don’t have any germ factories ( I think some of you people call them children) living with me.

In general, I think, as a society, we are way too worried about “germs”. This overreaction has led to the Darwinian manipulation of casual fun-loving, slight congestion causing germs to morph into Super Darth Vader germs of death and destruction. And that sucks.

Me – I tend to walk on the wide side. I observe the 5 second rule even though Ted Allen said it doesn’t work that way. I’ve been know to eat out of a bowl that I know has been double dipped in even though it makes a petri dish light up like the Fourth of July. I consider it a dry run for my immune system. Give those little white blood cells something to play with.

But back to the product – I do know that UV light does have bacteria killing properties so the idea behind the gadget is sound. Since these little buggers are invisible, you never will really know if it works, but if it makes you feel better go for it. It seems like this flu season is going to be pretty serious. I’m going to stick with frequent hand washing that lasts through at least two renditions of happy birthday and NOT touching my eyes, nose or mouth with my grubby hands.