I agree which is why I ask for *both paper/plastic* and recycle them for the kitchen garbage. Haven't purchased plastic bags for kitchen waste in 25 years. Which is why I am very wealthy. >8=O
Posted on 12/16/2010 6:26:23 AM PST by george76
Every week hundreds of Utahns carry their groceries home in reusable grocery bags. They do it to help the health of the environment, but it may be at the risk of their own health. KSL 5 News pulled out the gloves, the swabs and the culture dishes for a Staying Safe investigation that reveals - you may be carrying more in your bag than you bought.
Studies done in other states found some reusable bags have contained samples of e.coli and salmonella. But our tests were negative: no e.coli, no salmonella. The coliforms were another story.
Of the 89 bags sampled, 99 percent had major growths of coliform bacteria and at least 50 percent had too much bacteria to count -- though Gallardo estimates there was anywhere from 60,000 to 30 million counts of bacteria.
"You can't differentiate anything cause there's so much growth on them," he said as he looked at the culture dishes covered in spores.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksl.com ...
So wash them. Wait. That uses water, electricity and soap. Was it a good idea to use these bags in the first place?
Throw away plastic liners will work.....
Green ethics insures only wackos suffer the unintended consequences of their insanity.
`Do you want Paper or Spastic?`
The sooner all you worthless peasants die of something or other the better off the world will be, so quit your whining.
Right up to the point you placed your groceries or grocery bags on the same surface that those who don't wash theirs used.
“The major problem I have with plastic bags is that clerks tend to overuse them.”
Yes, I’ve had that happen too, which is one of the reasons I started using the Green bags. I was getting an overabundance of the plastic bags at home. Trouble with the reusable bags is the bagger puts ALL of the canned/bottled goods into one bag which makes it so darn heavy it takes both hands to carry it in! But it does cut down on the trips out to the car!
But that would defeat the purpose!
Doing your laundry harms the environment too. All that water you are wasting, and all that soap you are putting into the waste water.
Just stop eating and you won't need any grocery bags. Your very existence is a burden on the environment, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even being alive.
Unintended Consequences.
The Greens can only think as far as their nose , and that’s in everyone else’s business.
This is more hype and alarmism than good science OR good reporting.
As a recovering scientist who grew thousands of contact cultures in the lab ( a contact culture comes from a swab or a touch to a sterile agar plate ) I can tell you that your shoes, the stab part of earrings, wedding bands, eyeglass temples, you name it ... ANYTHING that comes in contact with life and is not washed frequently **WILL** have thousands of bacteria on it ready to show up in a lab culture.
We ran an experiment in our lab building to SHUT UP some mamby pamby alarmists working in our buildling who were scared of the (supposed) threat our lab posed because we kept live cholera and typhoid cultures in our SECURE lab. We went down to the cafeteria and cultured the surfaces of the cafeteria trays, table ware, glasses and so on, and then published the results in the company newsletter. Oh. My. God. You would have thought the sky was falling. Our label director had the opportunity to educate hundreds of nannies on basic biology and bacteriology. It was priceless.
Do NOT have ANY concerns about your shopping bag. DO, however pay attention to good food handling/preparation AT THE POINT of meal prep.
Friends don’t let journalists report on science.
I refuse to pay for these bags. If they save the planet and will save the grocery store money over time, they should be given away, imho. People who use these bags thinking they are saving the planet have an over inflated sense of self importance.
Went thought the bag thing in the mid eighties. Was ok for a while, and made me feel virtuous but didnt do anything for the environment. I now ask for renewable bags, ie paper, so I can start my fires in my woodstove.
Wait wait; you are using REAL science too!
It’s like all the hype over H1N1 influenzas (people have no idea what swine origin H1N1-A means, and why it means nothing compared to an H5N1 virus with a human to human vector (*IF* that existed).
As you know, our bodies have more bacteria cells in and on them than we have cells, and the diversity of said flora is amazing. Same for ‘fungi’.
E coli *CAN* be a marker for fecal contamination, but folks gotta realize that if you grow contact cultures from 100 commonly used/touched items, you WILL grow E coli cultures from probably 20% of them, and that DOES NOT mean they were lying in dog or cow poop before you touched them.
Geesh.
It’s always something.
Did they ban cigarettes? No. They taxed a legal product to the point where that taxation is a bill of attender(sp) And, do you really believe that cigarettes cause cancer after there are so many cases of mesothelioma (asbestos)? another money maker for those ambulance chasing Dem lawyers? You can call me cynical but I believe nothing that comes out of any politician's mouth.
I just spray mine with Lysol.
I don’t care about being “green”. That’s not why I use them. I bought a few because A. Trader Joes’ & WF give alittle discount so in time the bags pay for themselves and B. I can throw one over each shoulder & carry two in my hands. Less trips to the car for me. They make my life a little easier. And I can use them as totes whenever I need for other stuff, too.
“Studies done in other states found some reusable bags have contained samples of e.coli and salmonella. But our tests were negative: no e.coli, no salmonella. The coliforms were another story.”
Maybe their microbiology expert should have told them that E. coli ARE coliforms.
” Large amounts of coliform bacteria can be found on practically anything. Most of it won’t make us sick, but when you find so much of it in one place, Gallardo says the chances of it being bad go up.”
Nonsense. Coliforms are usually found in the gut and when they are found elsewhere it is usually due to fecal contamination. The reason you check for fecal conatmination is because it is associated with the presence of many pathogens such as salmonella.
I agree which is why I ask for *both paper/plastic* and recycle them for the kitchen garbage. Haven't purchased plastic bags for kitchen waste in 25 years. Which is why I am very wealthy. >8=O
I do this with my trash cans, even though most everything that goes in is bagged; keeps the funk factor way down.
Then there also should be respect for their stomach and intestinal bacteria which these Greenies are killing by the millions. Heaven help them!
Maybe the Greenies should just stop eating altogether?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.