Greening Our Way to Infection--The ban on single-use plastic grocery bags is unsanitary—and it comes at the worst imaginable time.
John Tierney March 12, 2020-The COVID-19 outbreak is giving new meaning to those “sustainable” shopping bags that politicians and environmentalists have been so eager to impose on the public. These reusable tote bags can sustain the COVID-19 and flu viruses—and spread the viruses throughout the store.
Researchers have been warning for years about the risks of these bags spreading deadly viral and bacterial diseases, but public officials have ignored their concerns, determined to eliminate single-use bags and other plastic products despite their obvious advantages in reducing the spread of pathogens. In New York State, a new law took effect this month banning single-use plastic bags in most retail businesses, and this week Democratic state legislators advanced a bill that would force coffee shops to accept consumers’ reusable cups—a practice that Starbucks and other chains have wisely suspended to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus.
John Flanagan, the Republican leader of the New York State Senate, has criticized the new legislation and called for a suspension of the law banning plastic bags. “Senate Democrats’ desperate need to be green is unclean during the coronavirus outbreak,” he said Tuesday, but so far he’s been a lonely voice among public officials.
The COVID-19 virus is just one of many pathogens that shoppers can spread unless they wash the bags regularly, which few people bother to do. Viruses and bacteria can survive in the tote bags up to nine days, according to one study of coronaviruses. The risk of spreading viruses was clearly demonstrated in a 2018 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health. READ THE REST OF THIS LENGTHY ARTICLE HERE.
RESIDENTS WHO TAKE ISSUE WITH THE CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE, THE DISEASE STATS, LINKS, ETC. must address those comments and questions at the article itself. Unsigned manifestos not published here.
John Tierney March 12, 2020-The COVID-19 outbreak is giving new meaning to those “sustainable” shopping bags that politicians and environmentalists have been so eager to impose on the public. These reusable tote bags can sustain the COVID-19 and flu viruses—and spread the viruses throughout the store.
Researchers have been warning for years about the risks of these bags spreading deadly viral and bacterial diseases, but public officials have ignored their concerns, determined to eliminate single-use bags and other plastic products despite their obvious advantages in reducing the spread of pathogens. In New York State, a new law took effect this month banning single-use plastic bags in most retail businesses, and this week Democratic state legislators advanced a bill that would force coffee shops to accept consumers’ reusable cups—a practice that Starbucks and other chains have wisely suspended to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus.
John Flanagan, the Republican leader of the New York State Senate, has criticized the new legislation and called for a suspension of the law banning plastic bags. “Senate Democrats’ desperate need to be green is unclean during the coronavirus outbreak,” he said Tuesday, but so far he’s been a lonely voice among public officials.
The COVID-19 virus is just one of many pathogens that shoppers can spread unless they wash the bags regularly, which few people bother to do. Viruses and bacteria can survive in the tote bags up to nine days, according to one study of coronaviruses. The risk of spreading viruses was clearly demonstrated in a 2018 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health. READ THE REST OF THIS LENGTHY ARTICLE HERE.
RESIDENTS WHO TAKE ISSUE WITH THE CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE, THE DISEASE STATS, LINKS, ETC. must address those comments and questions at the article itself. Unsigned manifestos not published here.
Thank you. While a lot of this hysteria is not justified, there were warnings about these bacteria issues for years. Your betters knew better. Not. Makes you wonder about a lot of the other claims too doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteDOES ANYONE KNOW, and this is a serious question, whether or not the people who have tested positive have used reusable bags that have also tested positive? Is anyone looking at the bags of people who are infected?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Contact info for the reporter/author is at https://www.city-journal.org/contributor/john-tierney_912
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