It's become a mantra in many cities and among average shoppers in recent years: Ban or stop using those nasty plastic grocery bags because they harm the environment. Use the fabric bags with various logos on them to tote your food home. We'll all feel better if we do this.
Well, maybe we won't be feeling better because:
"There is evidence (however) that reusable grocery bags, a common substitute for plastic bags, contain potentially harmful bacteria. We examine emergency room admissions related to these bacteria in the wake of the San Francisco ban. We find ER visits spiked when the ban went into effect. Relative to other counties, ER admissions increase by at least one fourth, and deaths exhibit a similar increase."
No area municipality bans the plastic grocery bags in the St. Louis area that I know of but before any city officials do consider banning them, they may want to do some investigating. When you think about it, which we really haven't, it seems obvious food bacteria would be in those permanent bags as so many fresh foods often leak from their packaging and co mingle with other foods. Then you take that bag out a few days later and set new food in the germy bag.
And I just bought a new bag to take along to the store. :(
I'll bet the liberals are going nuts.
I guess the easy thing to do, which is quite sensible, is was the bags periodically and wash fruits and vegetables off before using them.
I guess, we will be seeing a federal mandate to print warning labels on the reusable bags, with big skulls and death signs warning us about the risk of using these bags. Come on folks use some common sense.
Posted by: Ron | February 02, 2013 at 02:07 PM
Not going nuts here because, yes, they are very washable. And using plastic bags to wrap meats makes a lot of sense too, eliminate dripping. And one study doesn't make it fact.
Posted by: Rand | February 02, 2013 at 02:11 PM