Posted on 03/12/2020 8:24:56 PM PDT by karpov
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. The researchers, led by Ryan Sinclair of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, sent shoppers into three California grocery stores carrying polypropylene plastic tote bags that had been sprayed with a harmless surrogate of a virus.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
That’s too much. ROFL
Thank you, John Tiernay, for telling it like it is! Bring back those thin, pliable bags we all came to depend on! Let’s return to pre-Rachel Carson era.
I attended medical lectures from people who worked in Africa. Often times they include slide presentations.
Because of the shortage of medical supplies, they wash and then hang rubber gloves on clothes lines to dry.
They reuse them until they're unusable.
One wonders where all the aid money goes...
I’ve never seen a single use plastic bag. Mine all serve duty for 5 or 6 rounds. Trash, separating foods in the freezer, keeping old equipment with its specialized adapters, holding meds when I travel, ferrying food from the pantry, and endlessly in the garden and yard.
I use mine to clean up kitty litter boxes and the husband uses them to clean up when walking the dogs. A very noble end for a plastic grocery bag.
“One wonders where all the aid money goes...”
Into the bank accounts of government officials of course.
How else can Presidents and Prime Ministers of crap hole countries live like European royalty?
BOOKbump
Wife was using reusable bags for a while - once she discovered they really needed to be washed after every use, she started using them to store things in the back of her SUV for easy access - cleaning supplies, rags, etc.
Chemung County Legislators pass resolution opposing paper bag fee
Time for Cuomo to use his brain about the bags. The CDC should nail his a** on this one.
I mention this every time the subject comes up. To late. People have been propagandized another fad lie. Maybe this will wake them up. Doubtful....
If you are unfortunate enough to live in a place that bans plastic grocery bags, you can no longer call yourself American. You no longer live in America
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