A British scientist, concerned about public health issues, conducted an experiment in the UK this year. By placing petri dishes under hand dryers in public toilets and in the air, he found that the strong air blown out by the hand
dryers contained a large number of bacteria and fungi. After overnight incubation, the petri dishes were covered with bacterial colonies, while the control group showed almost no bacterial growth.
According to a report by Devon Live, Ruth MacLaren, founder of the Devon Science education program, publicly shared an experiment on TikTok. She placed a petri dish under a public restroom hand dryer to collect the air blown out, using another petri dish waving in normal air as a control. The results showed that after overnight cultivation, the petri dish under the hand dryer was teeming with various bacteria and fungi, while the control group showed almost no bacterial growth, shocking many.
The video went viral on social media, attracting over ten million views. Many netizens commented, "I'd rather dry my hands with my clothes because I don't like the noise of hand dryers," and "This is outrageous! Where did all these bacteria come from when I wasn't directly touching the hand dryer? I thought the high temperature would kill the bacteria; I'm never using a hand dryer again." However, some netizens argued that public restroom air should have been used as the control group, rather than office air, pointing out a slight flaw in the experimental design. MacLaren acknowledged this and stated that she would conduct further experiments
to improve the experiment.
Experts point out that public restroom hand dryers, if not cleaned regularly and remaining damp, can easily become breeding grounds for bacteria. The powerful airflow from hand dryers not only fails to kill germs but may also disperse bacteria and fungi into the air. Experts recommend that if both paper towels and hand dryers are available in the restroom, using paper towels is a more hygienic option.
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