Study: Beach Sand Can Make You Sick

A beautiful beach weekend could be ahead, but as your kids are playing in the sand you may want to consider what researchers have dug up.

If your child comes down with a belly ache after a day at the beach, it could be the sand making them sick.

A study by the Environmental Protection Agency and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill says building castles in the sand builds the chances of gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses, rashes, and eye and ear ailments: 13 percent of sand diggers had upset stomachs, 23 percent who buried themselves in the sand got sick.

But doctors say take the study with a grain of sand, so to speak, because millions of people play at beaches and very few get sick.

The illnesses apparently come from waste in the sand. Beaches closer to sewage discharge pipes are dirtiest.

Health officials don't test sand the way they test water, so there are no standards for clean sand. That is why doctors say teach your kids to wash their hands after playing in the sand the way they would after playing on any other dirty surface.