Hand Washing, Thieves, the Cooties and Other Interesting Facts

I don’t know why it is, but when I think about back-to-school I never think of lunch boxes and school supplies, I always think of the Cooties! Doesn’t it always happen, kids go back-to-school and within a couple of months they’re home sick for about a week. I had never realized how widespread and profitable the Cooties is, nor how interestingly diverse. Read on, and see what I mean.

Hand Washing and Antibacterial Hand Cleaners

I could very easily have used any other brand in my example, but I have chosen Purell because that is the brand I see used most often.

6 reasons why to avoid Purell and others like it…

1.) Purell is poisonous if ingested. It is the Isopropanol used to denature the ethanol in Purell that is poisonous.

2.) Ingested accidentally or intentionally, 2 ounces of Purell can poison us.

3.) The New England Journal of Medicine published information on the dangers of ingesting hand sanitizers (The New England Journal of Medicine, Feb. 1, 2007; vol 356: pp 529-530.)

4.) Purell contains antibacterial chemicals that kill all bacteria on the skin. Not all bacteria on skin are bad, Purell’s antibacterials kill the good bacteria that we really want on our skin. Good skin bacteria helps our bodies natural defense mechanisms fight bad bacteria, viruses, and fungus that can make us sick.

5.) Purell is harsh to the skin. It strips the skin of its natural oils which is drying and leaves us even further exposed to microorganisms and a greater chance of developing a skin condition as a result.

6.) Chemical and manmade antibacterial agents are extremely simple in their chemical make-up. This is the reason why we have seen bacteria becoming antibiotic-resistant.

Sanitizing products, whether it’s Purell or toilet bowl cleaner, or an antibiotic a doctor gives us for a flu virus (which antibiotics cannot kill anyway) – we are contributing to the creation of the next superbug. Today were are seeing the results of this ignorant behavior, community acquired MRSA (Staph) is not only one in a long list but it is also the one we cannot get rid of once we acquire it – it lays dormant and will pop up again and again for the rest of ones life when conditions are just right, and it changes ones life forever. Therefore, ‘prevention’ is far better than allowing it to happen.

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing that antibacterial hand cleaners are ineffective.

So what is our best defense?

There is one huge difference between chemical and manmade antibacterials and a high quality essential oil – the difference is that essential oils are complex in their natural chemical make-up, whereas chemicals are super-simple, and…

Bacteria are Extremely Smart!

Science has discovered that bacteria are quite smart and they can and do communicate with each other – AND – they also have the ability to communicate between different species. If I didn’t know better I might think that they are far more equipped and capable of change, and are so effective at communication than the humans they attack that is we don’t get on the ball real fast we may be very sorry. So this is where our recklessness in using chemical antibacterials has the potential of doing devastating harm to the human population.

Essential oils, only the best quality am I speaking of, are so complex that bacteria cannot figure out how to become resistant to them. For the past 4,500 years or more, humans have used essential oils for wellness. And after 4,500 years not a single microorganism has been able to grow any form of resistance to any essential oil.

Convenient and Effective Solutions

Thieves Waterless Hand Sanitizer (fact sheet) - these small 1 oz. bottles are easy for kids to carry in their backpacks, not to mention easy for use to keep in the car, in a purse or briefcase – kids aren’t the only ones who need to keep Cooties at bay.

Thieves Foaming Hand Soap (fact Sheet) – this hand soap is very nice, and gentle on the skin too. I’ve used it in place of shampoo and in the shower, wow – does it ever make my skin feel squeaky clean! I’ve even used it as a dog shampoo on Bandit and it leaves his coat so shiny and clean.

Thieves Essential Oil – the essential oil of Thieves is an excellent option in Cootie prevention. Apply a couple of drops topically to the soles of the feet every morning. And, diffused in a Cold-air Nebulizer Essential Oil Diffuser, run for 15 to 30 minutes, one to three times a day – helps kill cold and flu germs, and helps to prevent mold to boot. You’ve gotta love the dual purposes of these oils, I love it!

Learn more about the Thieves line of products in the Thieves Booklet.

Buy Thieves products here!

How to get Thieves products and other Young Living oils wholesale.

Women have more Bacteria on their Hands Than Men

A University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates that not only do human hands harbor far higher numbers of bacteria species than previously believed, women have a significantly greater diversity of microbes on their palms than men. The team found a typical hand in the study had roughly 150 different species of bacteria living on it.

While the researchers detected and identified more than 4,700 different bacteria species across 102 human hands in the study, only five species were shared among all 51 participants. The differences found between dominant and non-dominant hands were likely due to environmental conditions like oil production, salinity, moisture or variable environmental surfaces touched by either hand of an individual. Read more and watch the video…

Cooties are Diverse

Child’s Play

Cooties is a word in North American English, used by children, referring to a disease or condition, often infecting members of the opposite sex, usually used by boys, but this is a phase and goes away by age 9-12. One catches cooties through any form of bodily contact, proximity, square-dancing, contact with an infected person’s possessions, or third-party transmission. In prepubescent children, it effectively serves as a device for enforcing separation of the sexes.

Perhaps Kids do Know Why Things Shouldn’t Touch

When Cookies Catch the Cooties: a study from Duke University Office of News & Communications. Why companies should worry about what products are touching theirs in the store. People do not want to eat things that have touched (in a shopping cart) things percieved as yucky.

Cootie Toys

The same year the board game Scrabble came out so did the original 1948 game for the first player to build a “cootie” piece by piece from various plastic body parts that include a beehive-like body, a head, antennae, eyes, a coiled proboscis, and six legs. Body parts are acquired following the player’s roll of a die, with each number on the die corresponding to one of the body parts.

Schaper offered Dayton’s, a local Minneapolis, Minnesota department store, several Cootie sets on consignment and the game proved a hit, selling 5,592 by the end of 1950. By 1952, Schaper’s company sold 1.2 million Cootie games, and thereafter, a million games a year.

Schaper’s plastic bug became an icon, and, for some, a symbol for the baby boomer generation. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Cootie to its “Century of Toys List”, a roll call of the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century.

Cootie Island Curriculum

In two 50 minute periods an Instructional Sequence (PDF) for the classroom on a Palm OS application that can be used to model the spread of disease while learning how to use a stylus and use the palm held device. Using Cooties in Your Classroom

Students discuss: Who got me sick? Who was the initial carrier? How can you identify which handheld device was the initial carrier? Once the initial carrier is determined, students then carry out, analyze and draw conclusions, and determine the solutions…

Hmmmmm, how many kids to you think will say we should apply ‘prevention’ practices to help stop spread of disease and maybe to strengthen the immune system, use Thieves Hand Purifier or diffuse essential oils – rather than opting for quarantine after the disease has gained a toehold?

While this lesson may have some benefits, I just see tons of problems it creates. Not to mention, teaching us to how to ‘not’ behave proactively… ah, but proactive does not translate into tons of revenue in certain circles.

World War I, the Cooties Save Lives and Bring Happiness

The name Cootie originated during World War I when the different armies were massed together on the battlefields of France.  Each country represented in WWI contributed to what is known as the Cootie, by amalgamation of lice. All all thrown together in the trenches, the lice began to increase and multiply so that by the end of the war we had the most intelligent Cooties that could be produced.

They were known to bite the soldiers at just the right time to save the soldier’s lives; for often when a shell left the German trenches the Cooties would bite the soldiers, causing them to stoop and scratch at just the exact time that the shell would pass over the place where the soldier’s head had been.

Many soldiers, lying in their fox holes, were saved from death when the highly intelligent Cooties, knowing that a shell was coming in their direction, would bite the soldiers, causing such agony that they were forced to retreat to the trenches of other places of safety for “shirt reading” and “seam running” while the shell burst harmlessly in the places they had just vacated. The Cootie Organization of today carries on in the same degree of usefulness.

The Military Order of the Cootie members work for their parent organization, The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and continuing to do good for all whom they come in contact with.  They are always ready to help their Comrades, the Comrades widows and orphans, and contribute generously to the maintenance of the Orphanage at Eaton Rapids, Michigan. At this orphanage a swimming pool and playground known as Cootie Field, and a complete and modern fire department has been built and financed by the Cooties.

The spirit of Comradeship and good will that exists in the Cooties is beyond comparison in other organizations, for in the Cooties, Fun is King and the willingness to help in any cause for the betterment of humanity is their goal. The History of the Milittary Order of the Cooties

Article by Evelyn Vincent, Young Living Independent Distributor. Helping families avoid the ‘germ’ cooties!