National Toilet Day has a serious message

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Activists in Washington used the occasion of National Toilet Day to call for increased access to proper bathrooms for everyone.

Organizers delivered lunch-hour speeches Wednesday on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol where the traveling art exhibit "Sanitation is Dignity" was also on display.

The advocacy group Water Advocates said in a written statement that the humble toilet is actually a luxury in many areas of the world. And that spells trouble in the form of contaminated water and the spread of diseases such as cholera.

Water Advocates estimates that 2.5 billion people worldwide don't have access to clean toilets and have to make do using plastic bags or hustling off into the bushes.