The five-second rule doesn’t exist.
Jack Gilbert, microbiome scientist.
In Dirt Is Good, Jack Gilbert answers common questions about kids and germs. When it
comes to the five-second rule, he says, “It takes milliseconds for microbes to
attach themselves to a sticky piece of jammy toast, for example. But it makes
no difference. Unless you dropped it in an area where you think they could be a
high risk of extremely dangerous pathogens, which in every modern American home
is virtually impossible, then there’s no risk to your child.”
‘Dirt
Is Good’: Why Kids Need Exposure To Germs
(via nprbooks)