Dangers of eating at your desk

By STEVE HART

People who eat while they work at their desk could be in for more trouble than they imagine. University of Arizona researchers have just completed a survey on the health of people's work areas and say the toilet seat may be more germ free than the average desk.

Microbiologist Dr Charles Gerba says his team tracked disease-causing bacteria and germs in offices in New York, San Francisco, Tampa, and Tucson and found 400 times more germs on the typical office desk than on the typical office toilet seat.

His report claims the worst places for bacteria in the office are: telephone: 25,127 germs a square inch (6.4sq cm), desktop: 20,961 germs a square inch, keyboard: 3295 germs a square inch, computer mouse: 1676 germs a square inch and the toilet seat: 49 germs a square inch.

"Without cleaning, a small area on your desk or phone can sustain millions of bacteria that could potentially cause illness," says Gerba.

Longer working hours are blamed for the high rates of bacteria on desks.

But there is a solution. Use a bacterial wipe to clean your desk and phone every day or eat away from the computer monitor. Now there's a notion...