Somebody just sent me this email:





HANDBAGS...

>I never gave it a thought. Who would have thought?

>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..
>
>Mum 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. Smart Mum!!!

>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? Shauna Lake put handbags to the test - for bacteria - with
>Surprising results. You may think twice about where you put your
Handbag.

>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
Alot,
>" says one woman. "On the floor of my car, and in toilets."
>"I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts, on the floor of the
toilet
>while
>changing a nappy," 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,
nd 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 faeces, or possibly vomit" says Amy.
>So the moral of this story - 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
&