Even if there are no pets living there, outdoor gardens are play areas and lavatories for foxes, hedgehogs, badgers and other people's cats, to name but a few. The second article did mention making sure that children washed their hands after handling soil, but the first article specifically talked about babies and toddlers playing with soil. This cannot be safe - no-one can prevent a group of such young children from putting dirty hands in their mouths, let alone taking a taste as part of the activity.
Perhaps one of your health correspondents could give us some details of exactly what damage the bacteria found in garden soil might do.
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