Toilet paper: Difference between revisions

{{Other uses}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

[[File:Toiletpapier (Gobran111).jpg|thumb|right|A full roll of toilet paper]]

[[File:Klopapierrolle mit Halter.jpg|thumb|right|Toilet paper and toilet paper holder; the paperboard center of a spent roll is visible on the holder.]]

==History==

{{See also|List of Chinese inventions}}

 

Although paper had been known as a wrapping and padding material in [[History of China|China]] since the 2nd century BC,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 122">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 122.</ref> a reference to the use of toilet paper dates back as early as {{Circa|589}} when the scholar-official [[Yan Zhitui]] (531–591) wrote:

 

Elsewhere, wealthy people wiped themselves with [[wool]], [[lace]] or [[hemp]], while less wealthy people used their hand when defecating into rivers, or cleaned themselves with various materials such as rags, wood shavings, [[leaf|leaves]], grass, [[hay]], [[Rock (geology)|stones]], [[sand]], [[moss]], water, snow, [[fern]]s, [[husk|plant husks]], [[peel (fruit)|fruit skins]], [[animal shell|seashells]], or [[corncob]]s, depending upon the country and weather conditions or social customs. In [[Ancient Rome]], a [[xylospongium|sponge on a stick]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sapiens.org/column/curiosities/ancient-roman-bathrooms/ |title=What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper? |last=Nash |first=Stephen E. |work=Sapiens |access-date=4 June 2019}}</ref> was commonly used, and, after use, placed back in a pail of vinegar. Several talmudic sources indicating ancient Jewish practice refer to the use of small pebbles, often carried in a special bag, and also to the use of dry grass and of the smooth edges of broken pottery jugs (e.g., Shabbat 81a, 82a, Yevamot 59b). These are all cited in the classic ''Biblical and Talmudic Medicine'' by the German physician Julius Preuss (Eng. trans. Sanhedrin Press, 1978).

 

The 16th-century French satirical writer [[François Rabelais]], in Chapter XIII of Book 1 of his [[novel sequence]] ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]'', has his character Gargantua investigate a great number of ways of cleansing oneself after defecating. Gargantua dismisses the use of paper as ineffective, rhyming that: "Who his foul tail with paper wipes, Shall at his [[Bollocks|ballocks]] leave some chips." (Sir [[Thomas Urquhart]]'s 1653 English translation). He concludes that "the neck of a goose, that is well downed" provides an optimum cleansing medium.<ref>{{cite web |author=Rabelais, François |title=Gargantua and Pantagruel |url=https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/r/rabelais/francois/r11g/book1.13.html |publisher=eBooks@Adelaide |location=The University of Adelaide, Australia |date=20 April 2007 |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120409124705/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/r/rabelais/francois//r11g/book1.13.html |archive-date=9 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Seth Wheeler of [[Albany, New York]], obtained the earliest United States patents for toilet paper and dispensers, the types of which eventually were in common use in that country, in 1883.<ref>The first of note is for the idea of perforating commercial papers (25 July 1871, #117355), the application for which includes an illustration of a perforated roll of paper. On 13 February 1883 he was granted patent #272369, which presented a roll of perforated wrapping or toilet paper supported in the center with a tube. Wheeler also had patents for mounted brackets that held the rolls. See also Joseph Nathan Kane, "Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States" (H. W. Wilson: 1964), p. 434; Harper's Magazine, volume. Q, 1941–1943 (Harper's Magazine Co.:1941), p. 181; Jules Heller, "Paper Making" (Watson-Guptill:1978), p. 193.</ref> Toilet paper dispensed from rolls was popularized when the [[Scott Paper Company]] began marketing it in 1890.<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2020/03/21/toilet-paper-takes-center-stage-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-thankful-longer-use-corncobs-and-rope-ends/xIAbs6W53IaUQyuG5fk5iM/story.html Toilet paper takes center stage amid coronavirus outbreak. Be thankful we no longer use corncobs and rope ends.]</ref>

 

The manufacturing of this product had a long period of refinement, considering that as late as the 1930s, a selling point of the Northern Tissue company was that their toilet paper was "[[splinter]] free".<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Terry |title=Now Splinter Free: How Marketing Broke Taboos |url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/now-splinter-free-how-marketing-broke-taboos-1.4149558 |access-date=10 June 2017 |work=Under the Influence |agency=Pirate Radio |publisher=CBC Radio One |date=8 June 2017}}</ref> The widespread adoption of the [[flush toilet]] increased the use of toilet paper, as heavier paper was more prone to clogging the [[Trap (plumbing)|trap]] that prevents sewer gases from escaping through the toilet.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/03/27/our-only-good-news-toilet-paper-wont-run-out/ Our only good news: Toilet paper won't run out / How Americans fell for toilet paper.]</ref>

 

 

More than seven [[billion]] rolls of toilet paper are sold yearly in the United States where an average of 23.6 rolls per capita per year is used.<ref name="NYT0127">[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/science/earth/26charmin.html "Mr. Whipple Left It Out: Soft Is Rough on Forests"] by Leslie Kaufman, ''The New York Times'', 25 February 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2009.</ref>

 

Toilet paper has been one of the commodities subject to [[shortages in Venezuela]] starting in the 2010s; the government seized one toilet paper factory in an effort to resolve the problem.<ref>{{cite web |title=Venezuelan Government Seizes Toilet Paper Factory Amid Shortage |website=[[Business Insider]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412085616/https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuelan-government-seizes-toilet-paper-factory-amid-shortage-2013-9 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |url-status=live |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/venezuelan-government-seizes-toilet-paper-factory-amid-shortage-2013-9 |access-date=23 March 2020 }}</ref>

 

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], toilet paper [[Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic|shortages]] were reported in March 2020 in multiple countries due to hoarding and [[panic buying]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Bruce Y. |title=Is COVID-19 Coronavirus Leading To Toilet Paper Shortages? Here Is The Situation |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/06/how-covid-19-coronavirus-is-leading-to-toilet-paper-shortages/ |work=Forbes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Corkery |first1=Michael |last2=Maheshwari |first2=Sapna |title=Is There Really a Toilet Paper Shortage? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/business/toilet-paper-shortage.html |work=The New York Times |date=13 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Frankel |first1=Todd C. |title=The toilet paper shortage is real. But it should be brief. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/13/toilet-paper-shortage/ |access-date=15 March 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=13 March 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Andrew |first1=Scottie |title=The psychology behind why toilet paper, of all things, is the latest coronavirus panic buy |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/health/toilet-paper-shortages-novel-coronavirus-trnd/index.html |access-date=15 March 2020 |publisher=CNN |date=9 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Capozzi |first1=Joe |title=Coronavirus in Florida: Toilet paper – the plywood of the pandemic |url=https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20200313/coronavirus-in-florida-toilet-paper-mdash-plywood-of-pandemic |access-date=15 March 2020 |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=15 March 2020 }}</ref> At first, few believed the pandemic would be serious. Later, people realized they might need to stock up on certain items in case of a [[shelter-in-place order]], or in case they did not know how long such an order would last; suppliers could not assure that they could keep up with demand.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/5803273/hoarding-toilet-paper/|title=In the Wake of the Coronavirus, Here's Why Americans Are Hoarding Toilet Paper|last=Kluger|first=Jeffrey|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=14 March 2020|access-date=15 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettwhysel/2020/04/17/where-did-all-the-toilet-paper-go-the-behavioral-economics-of-hoarding/#118658022d3d|title=Where Did All The Toilet Paper Go? The Behavioral Economics Of Hoarding|last=Whysel|first=Brett|work=Forbes|date=17 April 2020|access-date=15 May 2020}}</ref> However, manufacturers continued to produce even more than they had before. Demand was higher for the types of toilet paper used at home because so many people were at home who would have used toilet paper away from home.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/08/coronavirus-shortage-where-has-all-the-toilet-paper-gone/2964143001/|title=Coronavirus and shopping for supplies: Getting to the bottom of the toilet paper shortage|last=Schrotenboer|first=Brent|work=[[USA Today]]|date=8 April 2020|access-date=17 May 2020}}</ref> In some countries the [[bidet]] was already seen as a solution, and a survey before the pandemic had indicated an increasing number of Americans would be interested.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykarcz/2020/03/14/stop-hoarding-toilet-papertheres-a-better-solution/#35deeaa6c728|title=Stop Hoarding Toilet Paper – There's A Better Solution|last=Karcz|first=Anthony|work=[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]|date=14 March 2020|access-date=15 May 2020}}</ref> Amid the panic buying during the pandemic, the Australian toilet paper brand [[Quilton]] donated a million of toilet paper rolls to [[vulnerable people|vulnerable]] Australians who were struggling due to the shortages of toilet paper.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/coronavirus/quilton-donates-a-million-rolls-of-toilet-paper-to-struggling-australians-amid-coronavirus-panic-buying-ng-b881499623z|title=Quilton donates a million rolls of toilet paper to struggling Australians amid coronavirus panic-buying|publisher=[[Perth Now]]|access-date=25 December 2023}}</ref>

 

In 2022, British toilet paper packaging started displaying [[bowel cancer]] symptoms to raise awareness, following campaigning from blogger and journalist [[Deborah James (journalist)|Deborah James]], who later died from the disease in June 2022. At the time, half of all Britons could not name any of the main symptoms of bowel cancer. [[Andrex]] were the first brand to take the lead on the matter, then various supermarkets followed suit.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/dame-deborah-james-campaign-andrex-bowel-cancer-symptoms-toilet-roll-packs-b1007502.html?amp|title=Deborah James prompts Andrex to add bowel cancer symptoms to toilet roll packs|publisher=Evening Standard|last=Al Mustaqeem|first=Syraat|date=21 June 2022|accessdate=19 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/asda-waitrose-tesco-morrisons-join-24329694.amp|title=Asda, Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisons join Aldi and M&S in making important update to toilet roll|work=The Independent|last=Shufflebotham|first=Bethan|date=27 June 2022|accessdate=19 January 2023}}</ref>

 

==Description==