“New clothes are extremely dirty clothes.” microbiologist’s warning

It’s a question that regularly comes up in conversations. do you really need to wash your new clothes before you wear them?, guest on Ca va much Mieux, hosted by Flavi Flement and Dr. Jimmy Mohamed. RTL:on Saturday, December 7, microbiologist and hygienist Christophe Mercier responded positively. “New clothes are extremely dirty clothes,” he immediately emphasizes.

Rat urine and chemicals

On the set of the show, Christophe Mercier then explained why this precaution is more than necessary. The fault, according to him, is the lack of hygiene in the transport chain, which transports the products to the stores. “They were created on the other side of the world. They are transported in crates, and those crates contain rats that used to be on boats,” he explains. Based on the testimony of the store employees, he elaborates. “Rats urinate wherever they can, in this case, on boxes.” As a result, the latter are “often wet” or, even worse, contain “dead rats” when they finally reach their destination, the scientist laments.

But rat urine isn’t the only suspected contaminant on our new clothes: already in 2018, the National Agency for Health, Food, Environment and Labor (ANSES) actually found around twenty. the presence of chemicals on new shoes and clothes; so many substances that can cause itching, skin irritation and other allergies. This is why, as Christophe Mercier claims at the end of his intervention “new clothes are dirty clothes. Whether it’s for us or as a gift, we wash them.”