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Myth Busting Mythconceptions Pronto!

04 July 2005

Avid fans of the Good Weekend magazine found each Saturday inside The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers will no doubt read and love Dr Karl S. Kruszelnicki’s weekly column – “Mythconceptions”.
However, in one of his recent myth busting attempts to expose the supposed danger of germ filled warm-air hand-dryers it would seem he got it wrong according to Valerie Collins, Division Manager from JD Macdonald (www.jdmacdonald.com.au) in Melbourne.

Valerie’s letter to the editor was published in the Good Weekend on 25 June 2005:
“The June 4 Mythconceptions ‘A Lot of Hot Air’ fails to mention that the 1995 Westminster report was discredited as unscientific and unreliable by the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygience, and was questioned for being commissioned by a group of paper towel manufacturers. The Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research in the UK also criticises the report for using incorrect methodology that skewed the results. The Ansari Report found that in all cases, the hot-air dryer produced the best reduction in organisms.
This is acknowledges by the Australian and NZ Food Authority, which recommended hot air be used in conjunction with paper towel as the most effective method of reducing bacteria. Good hand hygiene is an important issue for the community. Shame that Karl Kruszelnicki didn’t contact Australia’s leading hand-dryer manufacturer, which has access to every article and report ever published on the subject.”

In April this year the Australian Design Awards presented JD Macdonald and CobaltNiche with an Australian DesignMark® (Click here to see more) for their hugely successful 1000 series range (http://www.jdmacdonald.com.au/clients/as/swfs/series/serieset.html) of new hand dryers. The award builds on a continued partnership that earlier produced a world first in hand dryers – the PRONTO™. The PRONTO system involves a unique combination of two hand-drying methods – paper towel and electric air dyer – that hygienically tries hands in 7 seconds. Clinical trials prove the PRONTO hand drying system is one of the most hygienic and time effective methods of hand drying available.