I've been told, but not by any reliable source, that urine is hygienic. That makes no sense to me. So here's my list of questions about that:
1. Is it true that urine is hygienic?
2. What does hygienic mean in this context?
3. If it's true that urine is hygienic, why are we supposed to wash our hands after urinating?
4. If it's true that urine is hygienic, what chemical in urine makes it that way?
5. If it's not true that urine is hygienic, why do people believe it is?
2006-09-03 03:49:36 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Hygienic in the sense of promoting health? Only by its elimination from the body.
Urine is hygienic in the sense that for most specimens (especially if "caught mid-stream") are not contaminated with living bacteria. It still might contain viral and chemically toxic materials.
If you urinated in the woods and did not pee on your hands, washing them may not be a problem. In a shared public rest room, you may have touched many items which could be contaminated from some other source.
The lack of living bacteria (from a bladder and urethra which are not infected) is due to the filtering of the liquid by the kidneys.
People once believed that some urine could actually heal another's disease. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Urine can contain plasmids (similar to those which cause Mad Cows' Disease and others). Often drugs and their metabolites can be found in very toxic amounts. Just because there might be no live bacteria does not mean that it is sterile and safe.
2006-09-03 04:20:37 · answer #1 · answered by Richard 7 · 69⤊ 0⤋
Hi water_skipper, you sure are confused aren't you. i know people can take something that is mainly common sense and talk and argue with you until you are not really sure of yourself anymore.
OKay you got to quit doing that first thing, okay. don't let others influence you this far. you know what you know and if they have books and hard evidence to show you, then think about it and make up your own mind.
You asked 5 questions and I as well as everyone else has done everything but call you an idiot. I am not doing that I am going to answer your questions, all five of them
1. urine is not hygienic, it is not clean, that is what hygienic means.
2. Hygienic means the same thing where ever you see it. It simply means to clean, to be clean.
3. No it is not true, but the reason for the washing of your hands is that urine is a waste product of your body. It contains salt and potassium, urea, ammonia, water, and all of the dead cells that the kidneys filter out of your blood and deposit in your bladder to be expelled as excessive and not needed and as toxic to the body.So you wash your hands every time you come in contact with something that is potentially toxic if you swallowed it.
4. Well it is not hygienic, but the chemical would be ammonia.
5. It is something to talk about, something to do if you want to be weird an draw attention to yourself. do not buy into the people who are drinking a glass of their own urine every day and say they are never sick and they have no weight problems. it is some kind of sicky fad and it will go away the first time one of them gets seriously ill from hepititis or some other awful thing from drinking it.
2006-09-03 23:27:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hygienic is a bit of a strange word to use.
Generally speaking, a mid-stream specimen of urine is sterile, unless it comes from someone with a UTI or bladder infection.
You're supposed to wash your hands because all the bits that the urine comes out of are not sterile. Neither are toilet seats, flush handles etc.
Urine that's been lying around outside for a few minutes is no longer sterile.
2006-09-03 10:54:09 · answer #3 · answered by Chasiufan 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some people will believe anything. There are witches who make a major part of their spells with urine. But no, it is not hygienic. It is waste material. Your body got rid of it because it was not doing you any good. We don't really need a chemical analysis to look at the logic of Mother Nature. Waste matter is not good for us, although it may be fine for maggots and mushrooms. We get all sorts of diseases if we put the outhouse too close to the kitchen.
Why do people get so far from "common" sense that we can no longer consider it common?
2006-09-03 10:57:42 · answer #4 · answered by auntb93again 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
urine is not really hygienic if hygienic means "healthy". because urine has urea. urea is a toxic chemical that is harmful to humans (and other animals) that should not be ingested. however, urine is sterile; bacteria do not exist in urine (unless it is left out in the open air for a period of time).
and, as for washing hands, urine is toxic, and the toilet seat/handle is not sanitary...
2006-09-03 13:54:30 · answer #5 · answered by supersonic 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're right, that was a gross question. And what they said about urine being hygienic is NOT TRUE.
2006-09-03 10:57:19 · answer #6 · answered by Mike M. 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
auntb93: True Urine contains waste products from cellular respration but it is mostly water and not urea, it also contains alot of salt and other nutrients.
remeber that we are not robotsand not everythin we do is 100% efficient. And even if we did urinate pure urea, it would probably be dangerous to ourselves and others because the concentration would be toxic.
2006-09-03 11:07:01 · answer #7 · answered by abcdefghijk 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dude! You haven't been washing off with urine? It's the new things, a breakthrough in modern science. I suggest you get with it.
Now!
2006-09-03 10:53:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
urine is sterile for 20 minutes. then it starts developing bacteria. that means if your are say stranded without water you could drink your urine.
2006-09-03 10:56:41 · answer #9 · answered by Professor Dopetastic Rockefeller 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Apparently, trapped miners have survived by drinking their urine.
2006-09-03 10:56:40 · answer #10 · answered by HoneyBearCub 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋