Paper or Plastic - Banning of Bags?

Unit 8: Banning of Bags?

India Smith

College Composition II

Kaplan University

Recently, California passed a comprehensive ban on plastic bags; however, plastic bags should not be banned in California, let alone anywhere else in the world. They want them to start using reusable bags, and with reusable bags you have to be more careful when you use them. They tend to carry bacteria if you don’t wash or clean the bags after each uses. America should think about using different things to carry their items in instead of reusable bags.

Here’s a visual for you: “Imagine people putting wet and dripping packages of ground beef or chicken in a reusable bag. The bags are left in a nice warm corner of the home or in a trunk where nasty bacteria can grow. Then, on the next trip, apples or carrots or other ready-to-eat foods meet and greet the pathogens. Yummy.” (De Groote, 2013)

        “Over the past eleven months, staff conducted outreach to the community about the importance of shopping with reusable bags, responded to complaints about retailers’ compliance with the BYOB ordinance, informed retailers and enforced the ordinance, and conducted litter surveys and visual observations to measure the impact and results of the BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) Ordinance.  All of the key indicators monitored by staff show downward trends in presence of single-use plastic bags in street, storm drain, and creek litter, and an upward trend in use of reusable bags by shoppers. Since San José’s implementation of the BYOB Ordinance, other cities throughout California and the nation have followed San José’s model and adopted similar ordinances. Cities are also moving forward with actions to ban EPS foam food ware, which is viewed as a high priority pollutant in waterways by environmental groups and water quality regulators.” (Romanow, 2012)

         “Reusable bags tested positive for E. coli, salmonella and coliform bacteria, according to studies by Loma Linda University and the University of Arizona. The bacteria proliferated wildly when the bag was left in a hot car.” (Gerba, 2010) The way this happen is when you place raw meat in a bag one day and then you have fruits and veggies in the same bag the next day. You don’t realize that raw meat occasionally has blood that drips out the package, and when you put other items in there without washing the bag you are spreading germs which causes cross-contaminate. Which in the long run will be unhealthy for you. Major risks include skin infections such as bacterial boils, triggering asthma attacks, ear infections and allergic reactions.

        In the USA Today, “A 2011 study from scientists at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University found only 3% of shoppers with multi-use bags said they regularly washed them. The same study found bacteria in 99% of bags tested; half carried coliform bacteria while 8% carried E. coli, an indicator of fecal contamination.” (Sinclair, 2011) “Researchers also found that bacteria thrived and multiplied on bags stored in the trunks of cars.” (Newkirk, 2014)

        In Columbia, MO “Abc 17 talked to more than 20 shoppers with reusable bags and one in three used separate bags for meats and produce.” (Berning, 2015) Also “According to the CDC, there are about 76 million cases of food-borne illness in the U.S. each year. Majority of those cases come from improper cooking or handling of foods, like putting raw meat in the same bag as foods you will eat raw.” (Berning, 2015)  "For example, putting your vegetables, fruits, produce right in the bag directly without some sort of secondary other containment, those may become cross-contaminated," MU Biological Sciences Professor Bethany Stone said. "A bag is a little bit porous. It has those grooves for bacteria to get into and sit." (Stone, 2015) “To find out what this could mean to you, the shopper, Abc 17 swabbed 22 bags and found what was growing inside.” (Berning, 2015)  They went back two day later and found out that eighteen of them had bacteria growing inside of them. “Students looked at bacteria under a microscope and found several different types. One was cocci bacteria. Both staph and strep are examples of cocci. Another students found bacillus bacteria. Some examples of bacillus are salmonella and E. coli.” (Berning, 2015)

        “While many reusable bags are safe, many have also been found to contain dangerous levels of lead. Even reusable bags without lead could pose a risk to you and your family if not sanitized properly after each use.” (Croghan, 2010) “Harmful bacteria like E. coli, salmonella and fecal coliform thrive in reusable bags unless they are cleaned properly after each use with soapy water that is at least 140-degrees A Canadian study found bacteria build-up on reusable bags was 300% higher than what is considered safe” (Unknown, 2009) “Storing these bags in a hot trunk -- which many people do so they don’t forget them at home -- causes the bacteria to grow 10 times faster” (Gerba, 2010).

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