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Let’s tell the truth about the toilet/sink combo. Here’s a picture of mine. That sink is NOT for drinking. That would be disgusting and unsanitary. That is for washing your hands after you pee and poop. It is disingenuous and irresponsible for any government official... 1/11 
...or anyone else to suggest that it is safe and sanitary for children (or anyone) to drink from a toilet sink, which is where people wash their hands (often without soap and/or hot water) after peeing and pooping. Generally, you should avoid drinking from or near... 2/11
...a toileting device, even ones that have a sink attached. These toilets with sinks attached are a space and water-saving device that were invented in Japan in the 1950s. I am currently living in Japan for the summer to teach children’s rights, and lived here previously... 3/11
...for one year while lecturing for the Japan Red Cross and working with an int’l firm. That is why I am familiar with these devices and how they are actually used (and not used). All children in government custody for any length of time are legally entitled to be kept in... 4/11
...”safe and sanitary” conditions. Requiring children to drink from toilet sinks is neither safe nor sanitary. Unsafe drinking water leads to diarrheal diseases, which according to UNICEF is the #2 leading cause of death for young children worldwide. 5/11
88% of diarrhea-associated deaths is attributable to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and insufficient hygiene, all of which children have reported in sworn declarations filed with the federal court in Flores. 6/11
According to the US Center for Disease Control, most diarrheal germs are spread from the stool of one person to the mouth of another through contaminated objects [see toilet sink handles, buttons, etc.], water, or food. 7/11
The children we meet with regularly report being forced to eat, poop, sleep, and live for days or weeks on end in overcrowded conditions with no or almost no access to hot water, soap, clean clothes, or showers. 8/11
The CDC warns that “Water, food, and objects become contaminated with stool...[when] People and animals defecate near water sources that people drink.” This is not brain science. 9/11
Every person in Japan knows that you don’t drink out of the toilet sink, and every mother in the US knows that as well, even though they are less common there.10/11
It is common sense to segregate pooping from drinking, so please stop trying to normalize that which places children’s health and lives at risk. 11/11
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