It might be a matter of opinion as to whether money is the root of all evil – but cash is definitely dirty.
Scientists have discovered that the average banknote is home to 26,000 bacteria, which could be potentially harmful to our health.
Despite two thirds of us believing that handling bank notes and coins is unhygienic, just one in five Europeans wash their hands after holding cash, according to new research.
A Europe-wide study of over 9,000 consumers from 12 countries highlighted how despite being ranked as more unhygienic than hand rails on public transport or nuts in a bar, Europeans are struggling to break the bad habit of not cleaning their hands after handling dirty cash
More germs can be found on a £1 coin than on a regularly cleaned toilet seat, but almost half of Britons admit to never washing their hands after handling money.
Men are more likely to avoid cleaning their hands than women at 55 per cent. Around 40 per cent of females skip the hygienic step.
People living in France and Hungary have the biggest ‘say-do gap’ as they were among the most aware of how filthy money can be, but also the more likely not to wash their hands.
A staggering 43 per cent of Britons think money is clean and we are the least likely to wash our hands, along with Denmark, in Europe.
Psychologist Donna Dawson explained that people find it hard to make negative associations with money because notes and coins are the biggest form of individual success that we have.
‘The reason for the often large gap in the survey between what we say and what we do is a lack of “connection”. We may recognise that money collects germs, but we do not connect disease or illness to the handling of money,’ she said.
The MasterCard research also highlighted that four in 10 Europeans claim they will try to be more hygienic and think that contactless payment will help.
Over half of respondents to the survey said they would prefer to use contactless payment instead of handling germ-ridden coins.
Dr Jim O’Mahony, lecturer in biological sciences at the Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland, said that humans have long been aware of the link between money and hygiene.
‘From a historical perspective there have even been reports that villagers believed money was somehow responsible for plague epidemics in England, with villagers leaving money in water troughs filled with vinegar in order to decontaminate it.
‘Scientifically, there have been many studies in recent years which have proven beyond doubt that bank notes and coins carry bacteria and other microbes.’
A MasterCard study conducted with the University of Oxford found that the average European banknote contains 26,000 bacterial colonies and UK notes were among the dirtiest – along with Denmark’s krone, Russia’s rouble and the Austrian euro.
The study comes in within a week of the old £50 banknote being withdrawn and follows the announcement that the UK will use plastic bank notes so that they are more durable and more hygienic.
The Bank of England signed an agreement with Innovia Security in March to obtain polymers for its new £5 and £10 notes.
The new notes will be more dirt-resistant than paper because they will be coated in a film so they can wiped clean, as well as being harder to fake because they contain features including a transparent window.
Polymer notes were first adopted by Australia in 1988 and are now in use in more than 20 countries.
The new £5 notes are expected to be rolled out in the UK in 2016 and will feature Winston Churchill, while the £10 note will follow a year later with Jane Austen.
Source-Dailym
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