Why plastic bag ban is a bad idea

The proposed plastic bag ban is a bad idea. It comes from the perspective of environmental activism and not cogent thought. Here’s why it is a bad idea.

Reusable bags, for groceries in particular, are very rarely sanitized between uses. The cloth ones are the worst. Groceries are emptied. Bags are rolled up or folded and put who knows where for the next use. The proliferation of bacteria is enormous in non-sanitized bags. So, Mrs. Smith puts a few tomatoes in her contaminated bag then decides she only needs two. One goes back on the bin with the E. coli or salmonella it picked up from her contaminated bag and or her hands.

Do you want to put that tomato in your bag and bring it home to your family? I doubt it. As a professional infection control scientist who has seen how easily bacteria, fungi and yeasts are spread, I caution implementation of this idea into a hard and fast rule.

You are not just what you eat. You are what somebody else left on what you eat.

This story was originally published September 12, 2017 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Why plastic bag ban is a bad idea."