A friend of mine just tipped me off to an interesting experiment going on in the medical industry. He was recently at a conference where he learned that hospitals are experimenting with the use of copper as a substitute for stainless steel for things like door knobs, bath taps, toilet handles, and even pens. It seems that bacteria have a hard time living on copper clad surfaces while they can live for days on stainless steel.
Although the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans knew copper had healing properties, a hospital in the UK is now conducting an 18 month trial to see if they can reduce their infection rate for certain bugs. Each year in the UK 300,000 people pick up infections while in hospital. Not only does this cost enormous amounts of money, it is also seems preventable. If an ounce of prevention is worth something, I imagine this copper-in-every-hospital idea is worth a whole lot more to the copper industry who is backing experiment. A good idea is a good idea, no matter who thought of it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1509513.ece
For a look at some other uses for copper go to:
http://www.riversidebrass.com/index.html
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