[Philmont] What I'd do, if anything, different!

Cleansing agents differ in their chemical makeup and mode of action. There are
specific applications for different cleaning agents which address
various situations where cleaning is required.

These days you can look up general information on detergents,
surfactants, soaps,
and other sanitising agents to get a good introduction to various
products and what
they are best suited for.

For general Philmont hand cleaning, good old fashioned soap and water is
excellent.

Information on Purell is available on the manufacturer's web site at:

http://www.pfizerch.com/product.aspx?id=1434

The main antibacterial agent is ethyl alcohol, although

 water, isopropyl alcohol, glycerin, carbomer, fragrance, aminomethyl
propanol, propylene glycol, isopropyl myristate, FD&C blue no. 1, and
tocopheryl acetate

are also present.

My take on the soap vs Purell choice is that soap may be better at
removing dirt particles, around which bacteria may cling, than Purell
by itself. Purell seems to be an excellent hand sanitiser if your
hands are already relatively dirt free.

A good case can be made that soap followed by Purell will result in
very clean hands indeed, as you are using two different modes of
disinfecting in tandem.

This situation is roughly analogous to the issues in water treatment.
Should you chemically purify or filter? My answer is that it is a
good idea to do both.

In general, Purell by itself will likely do a good enough job of hand
sanitising for you, so the Ranger is not wrong.

I would still recommend soap and water, followed by Purell.

Joe Jansen
JAJansenJr@gmail.com
Philmont 1965; 1978

On 7/14/07, Pete Swiggum <peter.swiggum@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I believe the case of the ranger telling the crew that using sanitizer
> before handling food was good enough should have offered the "advisors" a
> chance to step in and "advise".

>
>

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Received on Sat Jul 14 23:12:23 2007