[jwayne]

OMG! Methinks this household needs to change its ways:

From The Correct Way to Hang Toilet Paper, According to Science

According to science, the correct way to hang toilet paper is "over." Why? Because "under" vastly increases the possibility that food-poisoning bacteria will spread from the restroom to the rest of the workplace.

A recent study conducted at the University of Colorado revealed that even an apparently clean office restroom is a dirty Petri dish:

"Using a high-tech genetic sequencing tool, researchers identified 19 groups of bacteria on the doors, floors, faucet handles, soap dispensers, and toilets of 12 public restrooms in Colorado -- six men's restrooms and six women's restrooms. Many of the bacteria strains identified could be transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces."

Much of bacteria found in public restrooms is e. coli from human feces, a common source of food poisoning. E-coli is easily transferred from surfaces to your fingers and thence to anything that you eat with your hands.

Which brings us to hanging toilet paper. The moment when a restroom user's hands are most likely to carry bacteria is when they reach for toilet paper.

If the toilet paper is hung "over" their fingers only touch the toilet paper that they'll be using, which will subsequently be flushed.

However, if the toilet paper is hung "under" there's a good chance their fingers will brush the wall as well, leaving a deposit.

If so, every subsequent restroom user who reaches for toilet paper runs the risk of not only of picking up the bacteria that's been deposited already, but also leaving more for the next user to pick up.

Just as important, the "under" hang--and subsequent likelihood of touching the wall--also makes it more difficult to use a scrap of toilet paper to keep from directly touching the toilet seat, flush handle and stall lock without getting bacteria from the wall on your hand.