Women wash hands more than men do

Men are dirtier than women. So scientists have confirmed by spying in public restrooms.

Wednesday’s results mark the American Society of Microbiology’s latest look at how many people take what is considered the single easiest step to staying healthy: spending 20 seconds rubbing with soap under the faucet.

Back in 1996, the society first studied how often people wash up after using the toilet. Researchers lingered in public restrooms, putting on makeup or combing their hair, while surreptitiously counting. They concluded about one-third of people did not wash. Every few years, researchers repeat the spying.

This time, 83% of people washed, reported Harris Interactive, a research company that last month monitored more than 6,300 public restroom users for the society.

* The worst hygiene was at Atlanta’s Turner Field baseball stadium, where 37% of men left the restroom without washing, compared with 16% of women who didn’t wash.

* New York’s Penn Station had the biggest gender disparity, where 64% of men washed their hands compared with 92% of women. Grand Central Station was almost as bad.

* The best hygiene was at San Francisco’s Ferry Terminal Farmers Market and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and Shedd Aquarium, where only about 12% of people left without washing.