Posted on 03/08/2008 1:48:05 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Plastic Bags Evil? Think Again, Some Scientists Say
Saturday , March 08, 2008
Scientists and environmentalists have attacked a global campaign to ban plastic bags that they say is based on flawed science and exaggerated claims.
The widely stated accusation that the bags kill 100,000 animals and a million seabirds every year are false, experts have told The Times of London. They pose only a minimal threat to most marine species, including seals, whales, dolphins and seabirds.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced last month that he would force supermarkets to charge for the bags, saying that they were “one of the most visible symbols of environmental waste.”
Retailers and some pressure groups, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, threw their support behind him, and similar movements have spread across the United States.
But scientists, politicians and marine experts attacked the British government for joining a “bandwagon” based on poor science.
“The Government is irresponsible to jump on a bandwagon that has no base in scientific evidence," said Lord Taverne, the chairman of Sense about Science. "This is one of many examples where you get bad science leading to bad decisions which are counter-productive. Attacking plastic bags makes people feel good but it doesn’t achieve anything.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
for the love of pete. the enviropolice just made us switch to plastice 20 years ago. Now we have to switch back?
Don’t ask for a plastic bag at Whole Foods - they cut down trees to hold your groceries.
Even if they charge 5 or 10 cents per bag it will barely change the price of a bag of groceries - so I wouldn’t care.
But if they charge much more than their cost, I’d change grocery stores on principle.
Yes, but it’s possible that they could, under the right circumstances, possibly hurt some animal somewhere, especially those that can’t read the warnings not to put the bag over your head. So obviously we must ban them to mitigate the potential harm.
I just tell them to bag my groceries in whatever is politically correct that week. I’ve gotten some cranky looks. I refuse to bring in my own bag. yuk. somehow it seems unhealthy and unsanitary to reuse the same bag over and over for groceries. germs, roaches, etc. yuk.
That about says it all. The examples that could be given run the whole spectrum of laws Congress here, in the UK, UN, and all over the world. Today, the make an issue their own, and jockey the science to fit their wishes on the issue. From global warming, to social engineering.
Years ago ma would send me to the store with a grocery cart and a list, worked out pretty good.
So now, I *buy* plastic bags at Safeway for garbage disposal, and they place the package of plastic bags in a paper bag at the checkout counter :-/
That's OK, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of catching me in a whole foods, a bmw, a starbucks, timberland boots, or with an iPhone.
Yes, then they invented cars and the whole world went to heck.
:-) Sorry, I find the whole topic funny.
Wow...someone actually bags your groceries?! I'm lucky if there is a bagger 1 in 5 times.
Actually, we prefer paper bags. They hold more and we deposit burnable trash in them. (We live rural.) When we go to the incinerator we do a little incantation before ignition. It goes something like "F--- you Al Gore. F--- you Al Gore." We then ignite the fire and circle the incinerator while doing a little dance. Thus far, the response has been good and the Gods have smiled on us.
:-) Sorry, I find the whole topic funny.
Got that right
and my neighbor slipped on the ice this week and cracked his ribs and injured his hand.
BAN ICE!
c’mon gore - you promised...
I’ve started using my own bags for groceries rather than using plastic bags from the store—or I ask for paper bags. They will recycle the paper bags. Or you can use them to wrap presents—I’ve done that before. Just wrap the present and then use a rubber stamp to put interesting designs (x-mas, b-day, etc.) on them.
Around here, you can’t throw the plastic bags in the recycle can with your other recyclables so you end up stockpiling them and unless you have a herd of cats to clean up after, you aren’t ever going to use them up.
Omigosh - Frank Costanza, is that you?
Conn state assembly is considering the same.
But that shouldn’t surprise anyone given these people were elected by the same people that have had Chris Dodd never work a day in his life.
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