3 natural germ-killers

Banish bacteria and disinfect your home with chemical-free cleaning solutions.

Updated:: 2009-10-10 22:00

Published:: 2007-08-03 00:00

By: Daniela Payne

Pesky germs

It might be instinctual to kill those germs that live on your kitchen counter after you prepare a chicken stir-fry or on your bedroom door handle when a family member gets sick. But when you reach under the sink for a germ-busting cleaning product, do you think about the unwelcome substances it might contain? Does your cleaning product damage the environment, your health or the health of your family members and pets? What about the impact on your wallet?

When spraying and wiping household surfaces, it's easy to be on autopilot and not think about the products you're using to kill germs. Keep reading and learn about safe, green and cheap ways to kill those common household germs.

What germs?
Dr. Donald Low, microbiologist-in-chief at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, helps to clarify when you should disinfect household surfaces. "Generally, not much lives on household surfaces that we have to worry about. Surfaces become contaminated with our body secretions or during the preparation of food," he said.

Where germs hide
During cold and flu season, pay special attention to surfaces that may have been contaminated. Counter tops, door handles, computer keyboards and the telephone are a few places where germs tend to live. "When someone has an infection, it is certain that surfaces will become contaminated and many viruses can survive for long periods of times outside the host -- influenza can survive for 24 hours," Dr. Low says. "When someone in the home is sick, everyone needs to be more judicious than they normally are at washing their hands, coughing into their elbow and thoroughly cleaning all surfaces." Coughing into your elbow keeps germs off your hands, which you'll use to handle many objects throughout the course of the day.

It is also important to ensure that counter tops are cleaned after preparing food, since germs can be rampant in certain foods. "Fresh vegetables are often contaminated with bacteria, chicken with salmonella and campylobacter and beef with E.coli," Dr. Low said. "Once we finish preparing food, we need to clean the area properly in order to avoid transmission of these bacteria -- our counter tops, utensils and anything used in food preparation."

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