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Your Say

Poll: Do you think we're too obsessed with germs?

About three pounds of our body weight is accounted for by bacteria alone.

A GENETICIST WHO worked on a study that documented all the bacteria on the New York subway says he would advise any new parent to roll their child on the floor of the subway.

According to an idea called the hygiene hypothesis, exposure to germs and certain infections actually helps prime the immune system so it can defeat these microbes more easily in the future.

The author of the subway-pathogen study, Chris Mason, says he isn’t afraid to let his own young daughter ride the subway or play in the dirt.

So today we’re asking, Do you think we’re too obsessed with germs? 


Poll Results:

Yes (5382)
No (1052)
I don't care (223)

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