# Question re chlorine bleach as germacide **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093 "2004-10-25T19:11:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![violet9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@violet9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violet9)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/1 "2004-10-25T19:11:40Z")
I would like to know the least amount of chlorine bleach (regular strength Chlorox) needed to kill germs when I do laundry. Bleach is very hard on clothing, and I usually end up running each load twice - first with bleach, and again to remove as much bleach as possible. I know the amount to use would vary according to water volume, so what’s the least amount of bleach needed per gallon to kill germs? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/2 "2004-10-25T19:19:21Z")
Well I’ll admit that I’ve never considered my washing machine to be a method of preventing the spread of germs but the [CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bleachiv.htm) indicates that > [@](#): > > In addition to commercially available chemical germicides, a solution of sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) prepared daily is an inexpensive and effective germicide. Concentrations ranging from approximately 500 ppm (1:100 dilution of household bleach) sodium hypochlorite to 5,000 ppm (1:10 dilution of household bleach) are effective depending on the amount of organic material (e.g., Blood, mucus) present on the surface to be cleaned and disinfected. The article in question details the use of bleaching agents in relation to preventing HIV spread, but mainly on countertops. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/3 "2004-10-25T19:22:17Z")
[FAQs for The Clorox Homepage:](http://www.cloroxlaundry.com/usage_faqs.shtml) > [@](#): > > Q: Can Ultra Clorox® Regular Bleach be used to disinfect or purify water? > > A: Emergency Disinfection: When boiling water is not practical, water can be made potable by using Ultra Clorox® Regular Bleach. Before the addition of the sanitizer, remove all suspended material by filtration or by allowing it to settle to the bottom. Decant the clarified contaminated water to a clean container and add 8 drops of Ultra Clorox® Regular Bleach to one gallon of water (2 drops to 1 quart). Allow the treated water to stand for 30 minutes. Properly treated water should have a slight chlorine odor. If not, repeat dosage and allow water to stand an additional 15 minutes. The treated water can then be made palatable by pouring it between clean containers for several times. For cloudy water, use 16 drops of Ultra Clorox® Regular Bleach per gallon of water (4 drops to 1 quart). If no chlorine odor is apparent after 30 minutes, repeat dosage and wait an additional 15 minutes. Do not use scented or Splash-less Clorox® Bleaches for this purpose. [And from this page (also from Clorox):](http://www.cloroxlaundry.com/usage.shtml) bolding mine To handwash, \*\*disinfect \*\* or pre-treat stains and clean heavy soils, rinse to remove loose soil and fully soak each garment for 5 minutes in a solution of 1/4 cup of Ultra Clorox® Bleach to 1 gallon of cool water. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/4 "2004-10-25T19:26:25Z")
Bleach is overkill. The detergent itself should be sufficient to kill any germs lingering on your clothing. What kind of nasty-ass laundry do you have, anyway? 😉 If you’re truly concerned about infection, consider using an [autoclave](http://www.sterilizers.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/5 "2004-10-25T19:33:40Z")
Bleach may be hard on clothing, but I’m guessing that the agitator in the washing machine is just as hard on it. So you may be doing more harm than good by doing the second wash. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/6 "2004-10-25T20:50:45Z")
Also, the wash is hard on the bleach. It is the bleach that loses the battle to your clothes. After one wash, I doubt you could find any bleach left anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/7 "2004-10-25T23:35:38Z")
**violet9** Stop watching infomercials. Clorex® is only using scare tactics to sell more bleach. If the germs in your clothing were going to make you sick, you would already BE sick! The organisms we live with every day actually help our immune systems to cope with infectious ones. That’s not to say cleaning carefully after handling meat products, for example, isn’t important, it is. But, bleach in the laundry isn’t important, unless your whites are dingy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![violet9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@violet9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violet9)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/8 "2004-10-25T23:59:30Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > Bleach is overkill. The detergent itself should be sufficient to kill any germs lingering on your clothing. What kind of nasty-ass laundry do you have, anyway? 😉 > > If you’re truly concerned about infection, consider using an [autoclave](http://www.sterilizers.com/). Terminus: Considering your supremely confident ignorance, I’m betting your laundry requires a hazmat rating. [http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=24119&article\_id=218391156&cat=2\_3](http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=english&type=24119&article_id=218391156&cat=2_3) [http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/home/repair/home\_20040413\_clean.jhtml;jsessionid=VXQNNIRMHSSBBLARAYIR3KQ](http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/home/repair/home_20040413_clean.jhtml;jsessionid=VXQNNIRMHSSBBLARAYIR3KQ) (BTW, I’m not citing Oprah here, I’m citing Dr. Philip Tierno, director of New York University’s microbiology department.) Picunurse: I do not watch infomercials, and I am not germ phobic. I’m amazed at the snide & high-handed comments regarding a simple straightforward question. You all have certainly made a lot of baseless, self-satisfied assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/9 "2004-10-26T01:02:36Z")
I used to extract DNA for a living. In order to extract the DNA, we had to break open the cells that contained it. Guess what substance we used - that’s right, **detergent**. Bacteria are a bit tougher because they have a cell wall that can protect them from the detergent, but they can be weakened through enzymatic action. These same enzymes are also added to your laundry detergent. I challenge you to produce bacteria that can remain infectious after having been broken open and its entire contents dispersed through ten gallons liquid. You should question your own baseless and self-satisfied assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/10 "2004-10-26T01:07:06Z")
So I’m looking over the list of thread titles, and I inevitably read this one as: **Question re chlorine bleach as spermacide** ---
**Author:** ![violet9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@violet9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violet9)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/11 "2004-10-26T01:10:36Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] I used to extract DNA for a living. In order to extract the DNA, we had to break open the cells that contained it. Guess what substance we used - that’s right, **detergent**. Bacteria are a bit tougher because they have a cell wall that can protect them from the detergent, but they can be weakened through enzymatic action. These same enzymes are also added to your laundry detergent. I challenge you to produce bacteria that can remain infectious after having been broken open and its entire contents dispersed through ten gallons liquid. [http://www.sciencentral.com/article...8391156&cat=2\_3](http://www.sciencentral.com/article...8391156&cat=2_3) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/12 "2004-10-26T02:28:20Z")
Odds are also pretty good that you’re getting very little, if any, germicidal action if you’re washing the clothes in hot or very warm water (for example, when washing whites). According to the local health department (which issues food handler’s cards), chlorine evaporates very quickly in hot water. So for the purpose of making a solution for sanitizing restaurant surfaces and equipment, we’re supposed to use “cool” water. The health department also advises against adding soap to the sanitizing solution, because the soap degrades the germicidal characteristics of the bleach. So again, when doing laundry… The health department says to use (if I remember correctly) 2 teaspoons of bleach for each gallon of water. It may be only one teaspoon. And as to how chlorine bleach kills germs, my guess has always been that the corrosive quality of bleach destroys the bacteria’s outer shell. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > **Question re chlorine bleach as spermacide** Well, I bet it would work… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rikster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9a140/32.png) [@Rikster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rikster)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/13 "2004-10-26T03:15:04Z")
Just my observations but I noticed when I do a load of clothes and forget about them for a day especially in the summer, that musty moldy smell can gag a maggot; then you have to wash them all aver again. As a preemptive strike I always add a splash of Clorox just to be safe, Two days later and still no smell. It’s that damned last load that gets me every time, out of sight out of mind I guess. ---
**Author:** ![violet9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@violet9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violet9)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/14 "2004-10-26T03:22:22Z")
You should question your own baseless and self-satisfied assumptions. [/QUOTE] And those would be what exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-re-chlorine-bleach-as-germacide/271093/15 "2004-10-26T03:45:09Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > And as to how chlorine bleach kills germs, my guess has always been that the corrosive quality of bleach destroys the bacteria’s outer shell. From Pharmacology in Nursing by Hahn, Barkin, and Oestreich: Hypochlorous acid is a rapidly acting bactericidal agent. Its effect is partly the result of its oxidizing action and partly of its effect on microbial enzymes that are concerned with the metabolism of glucose.