Water, not hydrogen peroxide, is best for cuts. It’s long been a fixture of American medicine cabinets, but hydrogen peroxide is not the wound care wonder you might think it is. In fact, the properties in it that kill bacteria can actually damage healthy cell tissue. (The same is true of other disinfectants, such as alcohol and iodine.) That rarely causes serious harm, but it could slow healing time. Studies show that for most cuts and scrapes, rinsing thoroughly with water and cleaning the surrounding area with plain soap is as least as effective at preventing infection as hydrogen peroxide. And it’s less irritating to the woulded tissue. Use lots of water, at a high enough pressure to flush out debris. Hydrogen peroxide shouldn’t be your first-line defense for wounds, but it’s not a bad idea to stash some in an emergency kit for when you don’t have access to clean water. Keep some rubbing alcohol in the kit for disinfecting surfaces and various first-aid tools such as tweezers.
Rating Dishwasher detergents If you have very hard water, clear dishware eventually becomes filmy with some products. (they mentioned the kind of tests they put the detergents with baked on food, etc.) A few products cleaned very well. Finish Powerball was especially good with pots and is a CR Best Buy at 21 cents per load. But not all products have been through our test yet to see whether they leave glassware coated with the white film some readers have noticed. We can say that the Cascade Complete All in 1 Action-Pacs cleaned very well and didn’t leave a white film or discolor aluminum at 29 cents a load. (Kirkland Signature – Costco – was at the bottom of the list of poorest rating along with Everyday Value powder.) {CR Reports- Oct. 2011}
