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A friend just recently sent me this message in an email. It certainly gave me a new perspective on how I regard my handbag! 
HANDBAGS
> Have you ever noticed girls who set 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 harbour 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 20Labs 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 faecal 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 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 on 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
> walked, sat, 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.
Love, Light & Blessings
Sharyn
HANDBAGS
> Have you ever noticed girls who set 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 harbour 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 20Labs 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 faecal 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 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 on 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
> walked, sat, 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.
Love, Light & Blessings
Sharyn