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E Coli Deaths Rise 46 Percent After San Francisco Bag Ban

Published on: February 11, 2013

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Good samaritan Dave Buffet in Seal Beach cleans up beach dangers such as shopping carts washed to the sea after a storm.

Reusable shopping bags may be making us sick, thanks to well-intentioned laws that affect public health, according to law professors Jonathan Klick and Joshua Wright. They concluded that San Francisco County’s plastic bag ban is associated with a 46% increase in deaths from foodborne illnesses, mostly caused by  E. coli. Sanitizing reuseable bags by washing them in hot water with detergent that kills bacteria may help decrease illnesses and deaths, though added environmental costs are associated with this effort.

A few weeks ago California Assemblyman Marc Levine presented legislation banning plastic grocery bags statewide beginning in 2015. A previous attempt at passing such legislation failed in September 2012. The Democrat from San Rafael introduced Assembly Bill 158. He said banning plastic bags could reduce beach debris by about 10%. A recent study of recycling facilities in San Jose found no significant reduction in plastic after their bag ban, possibly because recyclers handle trash for surrounding cities where bags are still given out.  The California bag ban law would affect grocery stores with more than $2 million in annual sales or retailers with more than 10,000-square-feet of floor space.

SOME REGIONS WITH PLASTIC BAG BANS IN CALIFORNIA

San Francisco passed a plastic bag ban in 2007
Manhattan Beach 2008
Town of Fairfax 2008
Los Angeles County 2010
San Jose 2010
Marin County 2011
Santa Cruz 2012
Alameda County 2013
Palo Alto
Malibu

LAWSUIT OVERTURNING BAG BAN
Oakland 2007

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