You can’t imagine all that you bring home with your shoes

You’re probably cleaning your shoes as much as you can if you’re walking in something muddy, slimy, or nasty (please pick up behind your dog !)… But when you get home, do you always take your shoes off? carries ? The majority does not… Who thinks of what he drags under his soles finally returning home?

I’m part of a team of environmental chemists and we’ve spent a decade studying indoor spaces and the contaminants people are exposed to in their own homes. Although our review of the indoor environment, via our DustSafe program, is still far from complete, on the question of whether to put on and take off shoes at home, science still has an idea. It’s best to leave your dirt outside the house.

Where do the contaminants found in our interiors come from?

People spend up to 90% of their time indoors. The question of whether or not to wear shoes at home is therefore not trivial.

Policies generally focus on the external environment in terms of soils, water qualityair and environmental risks to public health. However, regulation is now also increasingly concerned with the quality issue of indoor air.

The matter who accumulates inside your home doesn’t just include dust and dirt brought in by your visitors, or hair dropped by your pets: about a third parties come from outsidebrought either by the windeither by dirty shoe soles – able to pick up anything lying on the ground.

For the latter, we are not talking about simple dirt but sometimes microorganisms such drug resistant pathogensincluding infectious agents (germs) associated with very hard-to-treat hospitals.

Add to that the carcinogenic toxins of asphalt residue and the endocrine disruptors from lawn chemicalsand you may see from another eye your shoes.

A quick tour of the worst indoor contaminants

Our work consisted of measuring and evaluating exposure to a whole series of harmful substances present inside homes, including the following:

• antibiotic resistant genes (genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics);
• disinfectant chemicals in the home environment ;
• microplastics ;
• perfluorinated chemicals (Where PFASnicknamed “eternal chemicals” because of their long duration of life and their tendency to remain in the body without degrading) used ubiquitously in a multitude of industrial, household and food packaging products.
• radioactive elements.

Assessment of levels of potentially toxic metals (such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead) in the homes of 35 countries (including Australia and France) is a major focus of our work.

These contaminants – and especially the lead, a dangerous neurotoxin – are odorless and colorless. So there’s no way to know if the dangers of lead exposure are only in your floors outside or your water pipes or if they are also on the wooden floor in your living room.

Our studies all the same suggest the existence of a very strong link between the lead present in your house and the one present in the ground of your garden.

The most likely reason for this relationship? Drafts, shoes and other dog and cat paws that bring them indoors…

Anticipate problems to avoid them

Hence the importance of making sure that materials from your external environment stay where they are (we have advice herefor example mop or damp cloth instead of sweeping or dry dusting, wash dusty or work clothes separately, etc.).

One recent W articleall Street Journal maintains that shoes at home are not so bad. The author pointed out thatE.coli – a potentially dangerous bacterium which develops in particular in the intestines of many mammals, including humans – is so widespread that it is present everywhere. It is therefore not surprising that it can be taken from shoe soles (96% of shoe soles, as the article points out).

But let’s be clear. While it’s nice to be scientific and stick to the term E.colithat bacteriumto put it bluntly, is associated with poo…

Whether it’s ours or Medor’s, it can make us very sick if exposed to it at high levels. And let’s face it, it’s just gross.

Why walk her inside your house if you have a very simple alternative: take off your shoes at the door?

Prefer the “without shoes”

Are there any downsides to having a house without shoes?

Beyond theoccasionally crushed toe, from an environmental health point of view, there are not many disadvantages to leaving boots and pumps at the entrance of your home. By leaving your shoes on the doormat, you are also leaving potentially dangerous pathogens at the door.

We all know that the prevention is much better than the treatment. Taking off your shoes is a basic and easy prevention activity for many of us.

Do you need shoes, insoles to support your feet? It’s simple: prefer the slipper or the “indoor shoe” never worn outside.

There remains the question of syndrome of the sterile home”, which refers to the increase in the rates ofallergies in children. Some say it is linked to overly sterile homes.

Indeed, a little dirt is probably beneficialsince studies indicate that it helps to develop the immune system and reduce the risk of allergies.

But there are better and less gross ways to do this than walking around indoors with dirty shoes… Get outside, take a walk outside, enjoy the fresh air!

It is therefore useless to bring home polluted particles, animal waste or various pathogens which will accumulate and contaminate kitchens and bedrooms perceived as havens of peace and security.