Can sand make you sick? Scientists say ... maybe

[DemocratSinceBirth]

South Florida's golden-sand coastline might be postcard-perfect from afar, but up close some of the most popular public beaches are teeming with E. coli and high levels of other potentially harmful bacteria.

Results of a new two-year university study in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Miami shows fecal bacteria in levels 100 to 1,000 times higher than what's found in the water lapping on the shoreline.

So, is beach sand making us sick? The best research so far says, possibly.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpbeaches0907pnsep07,0,677519.story?coll=sofla_services_newspaper_fpg_promo

[jgraz]

1. Jeez, and I was just sitting down to a big bowl of sand

thanks, my breakfast is ruined now. :puke:

[Buzz Clik]

5. You should boil it first.

Sand melts at about 3000 degrees, so you might want to put it in the microwave on full power for at least two or three minutes.

[jgraz]

6. nah, heat really dulls the flavor of the cat urine

[porphyrian]

8. Not if you only clean it once a year. - n/t

[Buzz Clik]

9. You just don't have the right condiments:

Sprinkle a little of this on after boiling, and your Bowl O'Sand will have that "just from the beach" pizazz.

[jgraz]

11. No thanks. Even with the glucose it still has that fake-uriney aftertaste

[Jacobin]

2. Oddly dissembling headline

"Sand" isn't making you sick, its the untreated waste.

Kinda like blaming a glass bottle for making you drunk, when its the alcohol inside that does it.

Our media practices diversions from real problems even in puff pieces so that they will be ready to report about how well the surge is working

[valerief]

3. Great point. Thanks for saying. nt

[porphyrian]

4. That's more about water pollution ending up in the sand than sand itself.

And, yes, Florida has massive water pollution problems. We've got saltwater intrusion into the aquifers at the coastline because of the over-development of the coastline putting such demand on water that the pumping is actually pulling sea water in through the porous limestone that most of Florida floats on. Then we've got huge pollution problems from urban and agricultural runoff (just look up the St. Johns River), not to mention all of the other corporate entities who get away with making their waste our problem. The pollution has killed many of our reefs, done a great deal of damage to the Everglades and, now, is measurably affecting the safety of our beach sand. Hey everybody, come to Florida!

[LiberalEsto]

7. "The Walrus and the Carpenter

were walking hand in hand
They wept like anything to see
such quantities of sand;
'If this were only cleared away,'
They said, 'it would be grand.'"

[Buzz Clik]

10. ...

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

[Raejeanowl]

12. Skin Infections

When my daughter was small, she attended a church day care with a outlying sandbox. I waged an ongoing war to either get the sandbox covered while not in use, the sand periodically replaced, or have them just keep her out of it, since it would get into her shoes and cause horrible recurring infections.

As her pediatrician explained it, the local wildlife would use it as a "litter box," and he thought that it was probably teeming with both bacterial and fungal life.

The day care staff seemed happiest just to humor me, and rub her feet with the prescription treatments, until I eventually removed her from that place in frustration. Something apparently happened not long after, because the sandbox was dug up and filled in with regular ol' dirt.

(She then went to a Kinder Care that required parental permission to watch "potentially violent" children's movies, but allowed the child care workers to tune in to trash TV and WWF in front of the pre-schoolers any time they wanted-big improvement!)

...getting back to sand, I'm no longer so blase' about letting it stay in contact with my skin, even the "clean-looking" variety.