Comments on: In Praise of Dirt

By: 偵探社

偵探社 — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:33 +0000

I’m strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. When possible, since you gain expertise,keep writing and happy blogging,2

By: marymcl

marymcl — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:02:13 +0000

The virus responsible for chickenpox (varicella zoster) is also the causative agent for herpes zoster, better known as shingles. There is some interesting evidence emerging that suggests the increased incidence of shingles in middle-aged Americans (most of whom had chicken pox as children) might be an unintended consequence of widespread varicella immunization. The theory goes that when adults who’d had chickenpox as children were exposed to the disease in their own kids, it acted as a kind of booster to their own immune systems. That is no longer happening since varicella vaccine has been in use for a generation and immunity is now required by many school districts. It’s all still speculative, of course, but interesting nonetheless.

The craze for antibacterial soaps is something else – even hospitals are caught up promoting this stuff as an acceptable alternative to hand-washing when they certainly know better. Not all bacteria are bad, in fact some are necessary to good health. But these products kill all they come into contact with, including the ones your body relies on to protect itself. The upshot is that prolonged use leaves a person more susceptible to infection! Regular handwashing with ordinary soap and water is a much more reliable defense.

By: Mirco

Mirco — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:11:42 +0000

The rationale to infect children in antiquity the past was:
1) some disease cause lesser damage to children than to adults
2) if one must die for a disease, it is economical for the parents to have it die as a child. They had many other children to grow, anyway.

By: Michael Ledeen

Michael Ledeen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:14 +0000

our sons always played in the dirt…and now they’re Marines! but we didn’t poison them, ahem.

By: Delia

Delia — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:15:16 +0000

Michael, if I ever meet you in person some day, I’ll be sure to cough on you. J/K )

I am careful about salmonella and e-coli since food poisoning doesn’t strengthen the immune system and I have to keep my house pretty spic-n-span because I’m allergic to dust but ‘dirt’ doesn’t bother me. Once you have a kid, you get over ‘dirt’ pretty quick unless you want to be a total ogre for a parent. lol

By: Michael Ledeen

Michael Ledeen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:56:59 +0000

I’m all for vaccinations, hope I didn’t imply otherwise. But when I was a kid back in the 18th century there weren’t so many as there are today. I remember when the Salk vaccine came out. Wow. I had friends with polio…

By: Winston

Winston — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:26:15 +0000

I doubt it. But dirty is fun. LoL!

By: Professor Guvinoff

Professor Guvinoff — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:18:25 +0000

This applies to more than just dirt: If you try to protect the mind of children through the prophylaxy of political correctness, they will never understand anything about the human nature, and will become unable to deal with adversity in life.

Most of us were not intensely bombarded by the principles of collectivism, until the Nobel laureate of our time undertook the task of education plumbers at arm’s length.

Now we receive the madness in stereophony, (from Pelosi on the extreme left, and Reid on the middle-of-road left, plus surround sound by Van Jones, Cass Sustein and Valery Jarret), and the American electorate gradually develops some measure of immunity to the marxist viruses trying to perform the Gulliver maneuver on America.

By: john lynch

john lynch — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:36:12 +0000

While I agree too much of antiseptic upbringing can be bad for children, there are better ways to strengthen immune systems than exposing children to disease.

Vaccines do the same thing without the risk of illness. That’s why I vaccinated my son against the chicken pox rather than exposing him to it.

Infectious disease has a cumulative impact on the human body. Studies of dead civil war veterans have showed us that disease significantly shortened their lives and led to serious chronic problems.

Plus, being sick sucks. Why would I want my son to go through that?

Allergies do seem to be related to a lack of exposure to antigens.

So, dirt good, disease bad.

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:47:59 +0000

Compulsive cleanliness will likely result in a disaster. Human beings are supposed to build up their immune systems. A certain amount of dirt is good for us. In other words, one probably does have to knowingly get moderately sick. Total avoidance is a far worse alternative.