Children’s car seats are even grosser than toilets

YOUR average toilet has about 50 different kinds of bacteria, but that’s nothing compared to what researchers found when they swabbed 20 children’s car seats...

05/08/1998 PIRATE: Seat lid of toilet bowl, brush and rolls of paper.

YOUR average toilet has about 50 different kinds of bacteria in one area — but that’s nothing compared to what researchers at the University of Birmingham found when they swabbed 20 children’s car seats.

The seats had about 100 different kinds of fungi and bacteria per swabbed area, including Salmonella and E. coli.

The study, commissioned by the UK’s Continental Tyres, showed that cars are more dangerous to our health than our homes. Indeed, we clean them far less than we scrub our floors.

He looks happy enough ...

Researchers found that only one in five people cleaned their vehicle about once a year. And 60 per cent of the people interviewed didn’t have any idea that cars could pose a health risk.

Mark Griffiths, Continental Tyres’ safety expert, says that drivers need to think of their vehicles the same way they consider their homes.

According to Griffiths, “most people wouldn’t dream of using their home as a dumping ground for rubbish as they do with their car

“With real safety implications, it’s important car owners perform simple and regular maintenance on the inside, [minimising] the risks posed by both bacteria and clutter in the cabin.”

Next time, think twice before dropping that empty McDonald’s bag on the floor of the car.

This article was written by Emily Arata from Elite Daily and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

Originally published as Children’s car seats are even grosser than toilets