Or the trots, the Tennessee quick-step, as Civil War soldiers called it.
The LA city council will vote May 23 on a plastic bag ban. Here’s what Angelenos have to look forward to if the ban passes.
Oregon public health officials have traced a nasty outbreak of norovirus infections in a group of soccer players to an unlikely source: a reusable grocery bag contaminated with what some experts are calling “the perfect pathogens.”
The incident is raising questions, once again, about the cleanliness of the portable shopping bags that many consumers use to avoid the paper vs. plastic impact on the environment.
The council’s proposed ban would force consumers to use reusable bags. The soccer team — 13 and 14 year old girls — ate a packed lunch that was carried in reusable grocery bags that were near the first girl who got sick. The bug lived in the bags, the team ate cookies from the bags, and they quickly came down with norovirus effects, vomiting and diarrhea, among other things making it tough to concentrate on soccer.
Norovirus isn’t the only critter that lives in those reusable bags.
While the risk of contracting an illness from any particular reusable bag is low, Schaffner said, the Oregon study follows a 2010 paper by researchers at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University that found large numbers of bacteria in reusable grocery bags, including 12 percent that were contaminated with E. coli.
When scientists stored the bags in the trunks of cars for two hours, the number of bacteria jumped 10-fold.
Stores can wash the bags to kill the bugs, but how many of them will do that without yet another government mandate to force them to? And what would that mandate do to the cost of goods sold in the stores?
Plastic bags, meanwhile, are sanitary and recyclable and make up a tiny fraction of the material that goes into landfills. So we could just keep using them. They’re good enough for the First Lady.
I use those bags as garbage bags, why does the left want to force me to buy garbage bags? They’re also useful on yard patrol (for two dogs.)
exactly
i recycle, reuse? – whatever, plastic bags more than the ditzy enviro wackos ever could
garbage bags, use then as take-home carry-alls when our family has bbq get-togethers, use them in my business as shopping bags, doggy bags, etc…
the plastic bag is a fabulous convenience- therefore, it makes perfect sense why the left wishes to get rid of them
I bring my lunch to work with those bags.
That’s funny.
Is there anything that the enviro-watermelons mandate that doesn’t have consequences worse than the original ‘problem’? They are responsible for the deaths of millions, all the while basking in their smug self righteousness.
When I go to the grocery checkout and the person in front of me has reusable bags I find another line. Any pathogens in those bags are transferred to the hands of the checkout clerk who will be handling my food.
I reuse them for garabage or dogs too. I refuse to purchase a “reusable poop bag”.
“I use those bags as garbage bags, why does the left want to force me to buy garbage bags?”
I see the problem – you’re not thinking like a leftie. Here’s the secret:
Lefties toss out plastic bags and don’t re-use, because there’s no law forcing re-use. Therefore, they “think” (ironic usage) that a law needs to be passed in order to fill that gap. Remember Buffet and other liberal blowhards claiming to want higher taxes, while refusing to send checks to the treasury on their own initiative? Same idea.
You, on the other hand, are already re-using the bags, as do I and many others, so you see no need for this. In trying to figure out out why the left does what it does, it helps to jettison all common sense and act as if your IQ has dropped 20 – 30 points.
Exactly right. Same reason liberals give less to charity. They think that is what taxes are for.
Also everyone can see you using the reusable bags and you can get nifty hemp ones with slogans on them. The important thing is that other people notice how concerned you are.
I looked into this before and tried to get an answer to the question “how many disposable plasic bags = one reusable in terms of materiels and environmental cost? I could not find anything on it. I replied to some articles at the Puff Post advocating laws like this and was basically told I was a hateful troll for even asking. Why would you advocate for something without even understanding if it achieves your goal?
The answer is that the goal has nothing to do with the environment.
There was a study done to this effect several years ago. The ideas was to explore why the Prius was selling and the Honda Civic (I think it was the Civic) hybrid was not. The upshot was that the Honda didn’t look any different from the standard, whereas the Prius was distinctive. IOW, actually BEING green is not as important as to be SEEN being green.
What’s the point of being holier-than-thou if people can’t tell how holy you are?
You only get to be holier than thou if you are doing things for the right reasons. I have been using re-usable bags for years now (and no, I do not let raw meat juice touch the bags, so you don’t have to back away when you see me). I use them because they are easier to carry than plastic grocery bags and because I don’t want dozens of plastic bags under my sink. I don’t get environmental credit for it.
I line dry my clothes, but I do it because they smell better that way and because it’s cheaper than running the dryer. I don’t get environmental credit for it.
I re-use my ziplock bags (not the ones with meat – my gosh, quit hyperventilating!) because they are expensive and it’s wasteful to toss them after one use.
I use cloth napkins instead of paper because cloth is nicer and again, it’s wasteful to use paper.
I get books from the library instead of buying them.
I get credit for none of this and indeed, my husband’s environmental activist mother (who doesn’t do any of the above) tells him that I am too cheap. So I am not holier than thou. I am just practical.
Funny – “stores can wash the bags” – what planet are you from? You buy the bag, you own it, and you can wash it or not. Some of them exceed the allowable level for lead, too.
I usually use the disposable plastic ones. I have a couple reusable ones, because Aldis doesn’t have free plastic bags. I like them for carrying cans and heavy items, but nothing that touches those bags is touching my mouth.
How much energy will be used washing and drying those cloth bags? Many are cotton canvas which will mildew if not completely dried.
I haven’t bought a wastebasket liner in decades because I have wastebaskets designed especially for the recycling of plastic grocery bags as liners.
That’s an interesting point.
Y’know what’s another solution? Sell disposable bags, basically the same ones no longer free!
We’re from the government and we’re here to help.
But but but it’s good to be kept going.
And all these years I thought it was illness that caused shopping bags.