A post by Pat
I wonder if the Greens see this as a save-the-Earth bonus. Not only are those reusable shopping bags cutting down on trash, they could be killing consumers. Toxic levels of lead have been measured in reusable grocery bags. This should come as no surprise since the bags are manufactured in China.
Study shows reusable bags contain high levels of lead content.
According to a study released by TEI Analytical, half of reusable shopping bags made with Non-Woven Poly Propylene (NWPP) contain an unhealthy amount of lead. Many of the bags that are supposed to save the planet contain more than 100 parts per million (PPM) of toxic heavy metals — violating state laws. The study tested bags distributed by national chains such as Walgreens, Rite-Aid and Harris Teeter.
Among the worst was a bag distributed by CVS Pharmacy. It was found to have 500 PPM – five times the allowed limit.
It’s not just evil corporations and mega-chains that are selling reusable shopping bags to make a profit. Government officials are handing them out for free to unsuspecting recipients.
Not the first toxic government give-away.
If unhealthy levels of lead don’t bother you, how about E Coli or salmonella or some other dangerous bacteria?
Plastic bags are still free where I live. I use them for the dirty cat litter. They’re just as inviting for reuse at the grocery store as the bacteria ridden toxic earth-friendly bags.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tammy Bruce, Kathy Shaidle, Rachelle Friberg, pat riccio, Gary Jackson and others. Gary Jackson said: RT @RachelleFriberg: RT @HeyTammyBruce: Save the Earth With Toxic Reusable Shopping Bags http://bit.ly/aGjL6x #tbrs […]
Plastic bags are still free here too Pat. I reuse them for cleaning litter boxes (and cat barf), small trash can liners, lug garden produce from the back 40 to the house and neighbor’s houses, carry plastic bags in car for wet bathing suits, towels, muddy shoes and car trash. 😀 I can also carry more grocerys from the car to the house with these plastic bags because they are so light weight and durable not to mention sanitary too!
Pat, this is just more bull crap from the feel good lib idiots who just use their heads to keep their ears apart. 🙂
You mean that lump, that’s three feet above their ass?
Yep, thas it.
and another thing, unrelated, sort of…
…asthma and allergies are on the rise. we used to was our clothes in hot water and dry them in machines, that killed off pretty much all the bad stuff and dust mites. Now all these envirowackos tell us to use cold and it just doesn’t get your clothes sheets towels as clean and the dust mites don’t get killed.
the thing is at least here there has never been until recently recycling for the plastic bags- certainly not curbside. now you can bring them back to some stores or to the recycling center that’s only open 2 days a week. i have 8 cats- so i never have left over bags.
just because i don’t drag around some sad old skanky hemp bag( with appropriate green cult chanting phrases on it) crawling with cooties it’s not like i run through the neighborhood throwing plastic bags in the air and kicking puppies for god’s sake.
living where i do i see the green sickness of hypocrisy abounding. they glare at you in the whole foods if you don’t bring your cult re-useable bags with you but toss all their electronics out on the curb, away from their emo-hippie nests, so as not to have to buy the appropriate recycling pick up stickers. all those monitors and computers filled with lead and non degradable parts they’re too cheap to pay for disposal of, but heaven help you if you use one demon plastic bag.
i never recall being brought up with disrespect for the environment. we never littered and considered it something gross lazy thoughtless people with no self respect did. this is back when part of your candy money was got collecting returnable bottles just like for your parents who grew up in the 50s . milk was in returnable bottles, even pie plates were returnable. these items weren’t returnable because of any ‘green’ movement but because they were made of resources previous generations never dreamed of squandering. my grandfather, who grew up in the depression, saved glass bottles and cans ( used to put stuff in like screws/nails and hot grease) and bails of paper( he’d give to the vets and other places that would use it). he always had a compost heap. wasting stuff was just wrong to his generation because they grew up without the luxury of a throw away nearly completely consumer society. that man knew more about plants, nature, agriculture and the environment than any al gore humping green of today and he was never a self righteous fascist about it.
they act like they invented respect for nature whereas they are nothing but a mind control cult that seeks obedience to themselves. if one does any study of cult techniques to manipulate people , the whole green/global warming fraud sounds like the deranged ‘ church’ of a disturbed sociopath. making people feel they are flawed and selfish and worthless without the ‘ church’ , controlling access to information, encouraging a childlike dependence, bogus scientific research, restricting eating habits to low protein foods( hello, vegans), creating scape goats and enemies, implying the world will end if one doesn’t do( fill in the blank) or if one leaves the cult. and we’re all familiar with al gores ‘ love bombing’ techniques which do need some refining…
Very well said!
I think this proves more and more that the environmental movement has become a tool of certain corporate interests. Get people buying something because it has something about it that’s “green”.
I found this out a while ago with CFLs. It made no sense to me. Yes they use less power and may last longer than incandescents, but they’re fragile like incandescents (perhaps more), and what’s worse they contain small amounts of mercury. You break one, you’ve got a toxic spill right in your house! Cities and corporations have offered ways to recycle them, but we all know that most of them are going to be thrown in the trash when they burn out. They’ll bust open when the trash is processed, and they’ll contaminate landfills all over the country. Is this environmentally friendly? I think not. The pro-CFL crowd points out whenever this is brought up that coal power plants release mercury into the atmosphere. This is like the retort of “Bush ran up deficits, too,” whenever we complain about Obama’s deficits. It’s change with no change in one sense. Only difference is if you live several miles away from a coal power plant it’s not nearly as bad as having a broken CFL in your house. Some seem to ignore that.
So why is our government telling us to use these things when incandescents are safer? Incandescents will start being banned in 2012 (phased out over time). One conservative commentator said that GE was in on this, because people didn’t want to buy the more expensive CFLs over incandescents. So they figured they could just force people to buy them. That’s one interest that is likely in on this. Secondly, every CFL, no matter the brand, is manufactured in China.
What I hate about this is that at least some environmentalists used to look thoroughly at the effects of the things we buy and what we do. Now they don’t. They only see something in a positive light if it’s new and different from the old, and somehow goes against their “flavor of the month” enemy. A year or two ago the focus was on energy, because the enemy was the big bad energy companies. More recently the focus has been on recycling and reuse. It’s all about actions, and statistics, but it ignores the science of the materials we are using to accomplish these goals. The science isn’t interesting. What benefits certain interests is. As an example, the production of ethanol uses more oil than producing gasoline. So why is the government subsidizing it? So corn growers can make more money. It’s that simple. It accomplishes nothing environmentally.
We get most of our hydrogen from oil. It’s possible to get it from other sources, though not without using some other energy source besides hydrogen to produce it. Yet environmentalists have been advocating for a while that we need to switch to ethanol and hydrogen. They might as well say, “Use more oil!”
So yeah, I agree with ancientwarriors. These guys have turned into airheads. Anyway, thanks for the article. I have some reuseable bags that I’ve gotten for free, mostly from places like Whole Foods. I will check them out.
Pat .. you made my day .. I will be laughing for the rest of day and most likely tomorrow, and whenever I see a reusable bag.
I’ve been using grocery bags as liners for my house/office small wastebaskets for years. (Is that recycling or just being a cheap SOB?) Bag companies and grocery chains are probably wise to this and behind the push to charge for them. Now they’ll both get a cut.