Hmmmmm, would washing these bags regularly help?
Well The United Nations has already given us an answer for this. Greenies need to start eating insects grown locally (or at home) and then there is no need for buying groceries and carrying them in a bag. Besides these bacteria have rights too so greenies may want to just accept using the bags anyway.
But the funny part is the attitude towards taxing (yes, it is a tax) plastic grocery bags. The rationale is that they are bad for the planet. You'd think if that was the case the government would just ban them.
I think he means "colonies" not "spores." Spores are typically too small to see.
In any case, the numbers of bacteria are irrelevant. E. coli are harmless bacteria that make up part of our normal intestinal flora--unless the hemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 was cultured, the presence of E. coli is not dangerous. The only relevant issue when discussing the presence of bacteria is, how many pathogenic bacteria were present? If they aren't pathogenic, they aren't a problem. No one gets upset about the bacteria in their yogurt...
Carry raw meat home one week; carry veggies or fruit next week; ta-da, you have just your family sick.
Of course, if you wash the bags every time you use them (which is what you should do to prevent cross contanimation), you negate any energy savings from using a the same bag over and over.
The major problem I have with plastic bags is that clerks tend to overuse them.
There have been times I purchased 8 items and ended up with 10 plastic store bags.
Good! At least the libs will be the only ones to suffer from their feel good stupidity!
Enough already!
I talked to a cashier who complained people were showing up with bags, with roaches in them.
If people want to use them fine. But I refuse to believe you are saving the planet with these bags.
What they need to develop is a bag made out of a renewable resource, which can be recycled numerous times, which is rapidly biodegradable, is possibly brown, folds up nice, and completes the question “_____ or plastic?”
Paper, plastic, or e-coli?
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.....
`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.
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.
It’s always something.
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.