Whitewashing “Greenwashed” Canvas Grocery Bags

I read the Flash Report so you don’t have to.

In this post, Jon Fleischman decides to rail against those feel good canvas reuable grocery bags you get at While Foods or Trader Joe’s (I own several).  And Register columnist Mark Lansbaum decides that Fleischman is onto something here.

Here’s what Jon had to say:

“swab testing by two independent laboratories found unacceptably high levels of bacterial yeast and mold in the bags.  The presence of these germ-producing substances, of course, can lead to FOOD POISONING.  Nice.

 
But wait, there’s more.  The study shows that other significant risks from dirty re-usable “eco-bags” include skin infections such as bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections.  Just swell!

The study found that 64% of the reusable bags tested were contaminated with some level of bacteria and close to 30% had elevated bacterial counts higher than what’s considered safe for drinking water.

I dropped into my local Whole Foods and looked around for any disclaimers telling me that these bags are supposed to help the environment, but at the expense of the personal health of my family!  (You guessed it, I didn’t find such a warning anywhere.)”

Landsbaum chimed in and blogged this, stating:  “Just another short-sighted, feel-good experience where emoting trumps reason. Well, at least shoppers can feel greenish as they turn green.”

Boys.  There is a simple solution.  After you remove your groceries from the bags, take the little canvas bags over to this new fangled invention called a washing machine.  A little soap, a little hot water..bam, problem solved.

So glad these guys are so concerned about a little food poisoning when both advocate for nuclear power.  Fleischman regular runs pro-nuke columns by Rep. Ed Royce and US senate candidate Chuck DeVore.  And here’s Mark. talking up the cost benefits of nukes 

I’m so glad these guys are all in favor of an energy source that’s so clean, its waste byproduct remains TOXIC to Humans for 1,000’s of years. 

After all, an accident in your grocery is easily cleaned up, laundered, and ready to be used again.  So if a train carrying nuclear waste products derail on the way to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, let’s send these two (alonbg with Royce and DeVore) with a trackload of canvas grocery bags to clean up the site for us.