I got this in an email awhile ago and thought i'd pass it on for those who didn't receive it. it's totaly true and now I think twice of what I do with my bags, because how often do you wash your bags?

Have you ever noticed gals who sit their handbags on public toilet floors, then go directly to their dining tables and set it on the table? Happens a lot!


It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress. Sometimes 'what you don't know will hurt you'!


Read on...


Mom got so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their handbags down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. She always said that handbags are really dirty, because of where they have been.


It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what's inside our handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Women carry handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their handbags, but did you ever stop to think about where your handbag goes during the day.

'I drive a school bus, so my handbag has been on the floor of the bus a lot,' says one woman. 'On the floor of my car, and in toilets.'

'I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts and on the floor of the toilet,' says another woman 'and of course in my home which should be clean.'


We decided to find out if handbags harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, and then we set out to test the average woman's handbag.


Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their handbag. Most said at home they usually set their handbags on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared.


Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't be surprised if their handbags were at least a little bit dirty.


It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked.


Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all

Of the handbags tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make people very sick.

In one sampling, four of five handbags tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. 'There is fecal contamination on the handbags' says Amy. Leather or vinyl handbags tended to be cleaner than cloth handbags, and lifestyle seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier handbags than those without.


With one exception.

The handbag of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all. 'Some type of feces, or possibly vomit' says Amy.

So the moral of this story is that your handbag won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat.


Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen countertop.


Experts say you should think of your handbag the same way you would a pair of shoes.

'If you think about putting a pair of shoes onto


Your countertops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put your handbag on the countertops ' - Your handbag has gone where Individuals before you have sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc!


Do you really want to bring that home with you?


The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a handbag will help. Wash cloth handbags and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather handbags.


THIS IS WORTH SHARING!!!

AND MEN PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR WIVES, GIRLFRIENDS AND DAUGHTERS!


Think about it! Even if you put your handbag on the hook in the washroom... how dirty is that?

So what do you think about this email? Where have you put your handbag and now your thinking twice?

I've never put it on the floor before, I've always hung them up when i'm in the washroom or whatever... But I have put my school bag on lab tables before =T However, I never put any bags on the table where I eat... so I think maybe some of my bags are dirty, but the chances of them getting to my food is unlikely... unless i grope my bag furiously before eating, but I don't O-o

Ewww...I saw something similar on the Tyra Banks show. The whole episode involed bacteria on everyday things. This guest on the show admitted to dancing in the club without shoes on and puts her real LV multicolour speedy on the washroom floor.

I'm pretty sure my bag is clean. I never put my back pack or school tote on the bus floor...i'll always take off the backpack and hold onto it.

I never put my purses on the bathroom floor. That's what hooks on the doors are for. And when there isn't a hook. I'll wear it and clutch it underneath my arms as I go.

When I drive, my bag is always on the passenger seat or back seat if I'm driving more than one person.

Also...this is one of the many reason's why chinese and other asian families don't wear shoes in the house. They don't want to bring everything outside inside.

i never ever leave my bag on public bathroom floors...i always hang it up on the door or have someone hold it for me. as for transit and such..i try to put it on my lap as much as possible and only put it on the ground if realllyy necessary. but even thennnn.... im sure my bags are still really dirty. =/ so thats why when i get home, i have a specific shelf and hanger to put my bags on =)

oh gosh .. that reminds me
sometimes at school before class .. i have my binder and stuff with me
and i go to the washroom .. and i put it on the floor cause theres no where
else to put it

Yeah me too. But in biology labs (ex. microbiology and not jus a simple highschool lab) you have to disinfect with disinfectant on your bench before and after you work with bacteria ( ex. E.coli etc).

I think in highschool labs...you are jus disecting animals that were already perserved in a some kinda of perservative fluid. so the risk of bacterial on your bag is very minimal. Even in highschool chemistry, the concentrations students work with is very low.

i thought it would be more common than what you guys are writing so far. for example...

putting your cell on the toilet paper dispenser
putting bags/purse on the counter in the washroom
-- also opening the washroom door and then grabbing your bag
bus floor when it's busy
work/office floor (i do that often)
school floor beside your chair
when your trying on clothing at the mall
friends or your car floor
doctors office

etc..

note: even if you don't put your bags on the floor i still think they can get really dirty... for example: if you are riding the bus/skytrain and you are holding the bar, then your strap falls down and you move it with your hand to fix it...

thats discusting! eww! the washrooms at my school don't have hooks...as strange as that is, so i kind of have to put it on the floor. :(

wow.. thanks for sharing bombshell ! that's just gross.

do you girls wash your bags?

i washed mine after i read this.

No I never wash my handbags because I don't think you're supposed to wash leather. And I always treat my bags very nicely and never ever put them on the dirty washroom floor (shiver). I'm sure public washroom floors are contaminated with feces and urine ewww I'm a neat freak and very careful with my accessories. Thanks for the informative post Bombshell