Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria and Honorary Professor, Macquarie University; and Gabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUI, wrote a piece earlier this year for The Conversation, where they discuss their research on the numerous contaminants people are exposed to in their own homes, including the contaminants tracked in by shoes that are worn outside the home. They explain:
We are environmental chemists who have spent a decade examining the indoor environment and the contaminants people are exposed to in their own homes. Although our examination of the indoor environment, via our DustSafe program, is far from complete, on the question of whether to shoe or de-shoe in the home, the science leans toward the latter. It is best to leave your filth outside the door.
The matter building up inside your home includes not just dust and dirt from people and pets shedding hair and skin.
About a third of it is from outside, either blown in or tramped in on those offensive shoe bottoms.
Some of the microorganisms present on shoes and floors are drug-resistant pathogens, including hospital-associated infectious agents (germs) that are very difficult to treat.
Add in cancer-causing toxins from asphalt road residue and endocrine-disrupting lawn chemicals, and you might view the filth on your shoes in a new light.
I wonder if this new research will make Americans reconsider their habit of wearing shoes inside? Check out the article to read more about the disgusting things we track into our homes via our shoes, and then, maybe start taking take your shoes off before entering your home.
