Gerba credited things like pet waste on the ground outside and splashes from the toilet on public restroom floors for this contamination. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.“If you wear shoes for more than a month, 93 percent will have fecal bacteria on the bottom of them,” he told TODAY Home about his findings. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. And assist in reducing the transfer of the stuff outside to inside.Ĭopyright © 2022 NPR. And I hope you can keep your shoes off in your house. RASCOE: That was environmental scientist Mark Patrick Taylor. I know some people are a bit funky - oh, I'm not taking my shoes off. We have UGG boots in Australia or people might have slippers, et cetera. TAYLOR: I know there are some people that have indoor shoes. RASCOE: (Laughter) Have indoor shoes and outdoor shoes. TAYLOR: Why don't they have indoor shoes? So what about, like, (laughter) if it's really important to a person - like, I have to keep these shoes on? Is there anything they can do? You need to wash it and knock all the dirt out. Can't leave the mat out there for three years. The main thing is, people have to remember to clean their mats. Take your shoes off outside and, of course, you can just pick them up and then put them inside on a shoe rack. TAYLOR: You can - so what I suggest is you have an outdoor mat and an indoor mat. So you have to check them before you put them on. TAYLOR: Yeah, well, in Australia, we have funnel-webs that might crawl in your shoes. But in America, people might steal the shoes. Don't even bring them, like, by the door. RASCOE: So you're saying leave the shoes outside. TAYLOR: It's the same principle in your - in - you know, inside your living room - right? - where you make food and you eat and you relax. But my comment to that is, well, you don't go into bed with your shoes on, do you? You take them off because you don't want to make the bed dirty. And exposure to contaminants is actually - you know, does help - the evidence shows it does help build up our immunity. And we don't want to live in sterile environments. And actually, some people have raised this with me. How do we survive? That's the question (laughter). TAYLOR: It's pretty gross, and it's all there percolating on your food and in your nice glass of wine. The way you argue it, especially when you bring up fecal matter, then it's like, you probably right (laughter). TAYLOR: So if you leave your shoes off and the inside of your house is clean, would you feel more willing to apply the five-second rule? So if somebody is walking their shoes into your house and bringing all that filth into your house, do you apply the five-second rule? RASCOE: No, you don't eat it if it falls outside (laughter). If you drop your sandwich outside in the gutter. RASCOE: We have five second - five seconds, yes (laughter). And then that sloughs off, forms part of the dust in your house, which then can get remobilized. Now, even if you're, you know, dodging dog poo on your footpath - it's like an obstacle course - the likelihood you'll stand in that or some bird poo or some other feces - you will bring it into your house if you don't leave them outside. TAYLOR: Now, perhaps the thing which grosses most people out is the unseen things that we can tramp in on the soles of our shoes, and that includes dog poo. TAYLOR: Well, I would, because the indoor is the indoor and the outdoor is the outdoor. RASCOE: So tell us, what does the science say? Should I start asking my guests to take their shoes off at the door? ![]() In a column for The Conversation, a nonprofit outlet, he argues people should take off their shoes inside their homes. Mark Patrick Taylor is the chief environmental scientist at the Environmental Protection Authority of Victoria, Australia. But to scientists, the right choice is pretty clear-cut. Personally, I'm team shoes off, but not immediately (laughter). There's one choice most of us face almost every single day when we get home - to keep or take off our shoes.
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