With a measles outbreak and the issue of mandatory vaccinations dominating the political landscape this week, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, is taking the opportunity to speak out against what he says are too many government regulations.
What was one of the examples he used Monday while participating in a Q-and-A at the Bipartisan Policy Center? Health and hygiene regulations that require employees to wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
Tillis argues we are “one of the most regulated nations in the history of the planet.”
“I was having a discussion with someone, and we were at a Starbucks in my district, and we were talking about certain regulations where I felt like ‘maybe you should allow businesses to opt out,’” Tillis said.
They just happened to be sitting by the bathroom, and an employee went in there.
“She says, for example, don’t you believe that this regulation that requires this gentleman to wash his hands before he serves you food is important?” Tillis recalled. “I said: ‘I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says ‘We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom.’”
A clip of the video can be seen at C-SPAN.
Tillis said he knows that any restaurant opting out of mandatory hand washing for employees would go out of business, but that’s the point. Many consumers would self-regulate.
“The market will take care of that,” he added.
Unless you agree with Dwight Schrute from “The Office.”
On the other hand, the FDA says handwashing is required because it “reduces the spread of fecal-oral pathogens from the hands of a food employee to foods.”
And that’s a very good thing, because a study from the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention that looked at more than 400 restaurants found “12 percent of food workers said they had worked when they were sick with vomiting or diarrhea.
Another study showed that 60 percent of restaurant managers said they have witnessed at least one employee coming to work sick.
h/t: Talking Points Memo
