Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis’s recent comments on expanding the city’s ban on plastic bags were out of touch, especially in this time of coronavirus.
...In the meantime, due to coronavirus concerns, major retailers are rightly emphasizing public safety above environmental concerns. Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks are just two of the largest companies that have disallowed the use of reusable cups due to health concerns.
Apparently Davis has no concern about the impact of the virus, which has disrupted all facets of American life. This isn’t mere hyperbole on my part. The problem with reusable cloth bags preferred by Davis and other opponents of plastic bags is real.
A 2018 report from Loma Linda University was based on an experiment in which researchers purposely “contaminated” a reusable bag with a harmless form of a virus. A single shopper then went through a typical grocery store, and the research team tracked the spread of the virus.
Quoting directly from the executive summary of the report, “The data show that MS2 spread to all surfaces touched by the shopper; the highest concentration occurred on the shopper’s hands, the checkout stand, and the clerk’s hands.”
Additionally in 2012 epidemiologists from the Oregon Public Health Division and Oregon Health & Science University published a peer reviewed article in the Journal of Infections Disease that documented a reusable grocery bag was the point source in an actual virus outbreak in the Pacific Northwest.
...Far from “doubling down” on a plastic bag ban that is of dubious environmental benefit and may in fact be a threat to public health, Davis and the rest of Albuquerque’s City Council should consider ending the plastic bag ban at least until fears of the coronavirus subside. Of course, common colds, the flu and other illnesses are a constant threat, so the Loma Linda University study’s findings should be of concern to all of us.
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