6 • The Southwest Portland Post
Dear EarthTalk: I heard that some
reusable bags contain lead. Is this a
major health concern? Can’t these
bags be made to avoid such con-
tamination?
-- Donald
Young, Cincinnati, OH
It’s true that some reusable shop-
ping bags for sale in U.S. stores
have been shown to contain lead-- a
neurotoxin linked to developmental,
brain and kidney problems.
The non-profit Center for Envi-
ronmental Health (CEH) found that
about 10 percent of the reusable bags
it tested last year contained at least
minute levels of lead.
Disney’s “Toy Story” and “Cars”
plastic reusable shopping bags
topped the charts with excessive lev-
els to the tune of 15 times the federal
limit for lead in children’s products.
Tests by other groups confirm CEH’s
findings.
A November 2010 report by the
Tampa Tribune newspaper found
elevated levels of lead in reusable
bags purchased at Winn-Dixie, Pub-
lix, Walmart and Target stores—and
prompted an ongoing investigation
by the U.S. Food & Drug Adminis-
tration (FDA) into whether or not
reusable shopping bags could be
leaching lead into food items that
people later eat.
And earlier this year, the Center
FEATURES
easy to wash.
for Consumer
One quality,
Freedom, a trade
reliable source
group that op-
for cloth bags
poses bans on
is the Ossin-
plastic bags, re-
ing, New York-
ported that some
based Eco Bags,
21 different poly-
from which you
propylene reus-
can order con-
able bags sold
veniently on-
at Safeway, Wal-
line and pay no
green’s, Bloom
shipping costs
and other stores
on any order of
had lead content
$100 or more.
above 100 parts
Regarding
per million—the
washing to re-
highest level that
duce or elimi-
many states al-
nate contami-
low in consumer
nants, public
packaging.
health experts
While the
worry that reus-
stores in question
have pulled any Plastic reusable shopping bags are pe- able shopping
troleum-derived and may contain other
bags could be-
such question-
contaminants, including lead, especially
come a breed-
able bags from
if they feature ornate designs or patterns.
their shelves and The safe bet is to use cloth bags, like the ing ground for
in some cases one pictured here from Eco Bags, because impurities that
stopped patron- they are free of lead, they last for years, l e a d t o f o o d
izing offending and they are easy to wash. (Photo cour- poisoning, and
recommend
suppliers, con- tesy of Eco Bags)
washing them
sumers should
every
few
uses
at
least
to ward off
take matters into their own hands
contamination.
with regard to selecting safer reus-
A 2008 Environmental and Plastics
able shopping bags.
Industry Council of Canada study
While plastic reusable shopping
found mold and bacterial levels in re-
bags are a step in the right direction
usable bags 300 percent greater than
compared to disposable plastic or pa-
Canadian health standards allow.
per bags, they are still derived from
And a 2010 joint University of
petroleum, even if partly recycled,
Arizona and Limo Loma University
and may contain other contaminants,
study found that 97 percent of users
especially if they feature ornate de-
did not wash their reusable shopping
signs or patterns.
bags—which can harbor bacteria
The safest bet, according to CEH,
from repeated exposure to meats
would be cloth bags: Not only are
and vegetables. Half of the 84 bags
they usually free of lead or any other
studied contained coliform, a bac-
potentially hazardous substances,
terium found in fecal matter, while
but they also last for years and are
July 2011
12 percent tested positive for E. coli.
The moral of the story is to make
sure your reusable shopping bags
can go through the clothes washer—
and then wash them a few times a
month. This way you will steer clear
of contaminating the food you and
your family eat with trace amounts
of lead, and as such you will sleep
easier each and every night.
CONTACTS: CEH, www.ceh.org;
Arizona/Limo Loma Study, www.
uanews.org/pdfs/GerbaWilliams-
Sinclair_BagContamination.pdf; Eco
Bags, www.ecobags.com.
EarthTalk® is written and edited
by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss
and is a registered trademark of
E - The Environmental Magazine
(www.emagazine.com). Send ques-
tions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
MULTNOMAH NOTEBOOK
(Continued from Page 4)
aries of House District (HD) 36 and
was represented in Salem by State
Representative Mary Nolan.
The new redistricting has divided
up Multnomah into three house dis-
tricts, HD 36, represented by Nolan,
HD 35, represented by State Rep. Mar-
garet Doherty and HD 38, represented
by State Rep. Chris Garrett.
The Multnomah Neighborhood
Association has invited all three state
representatives to speak and meet
their new constituents at our July
meeting so please plan to attend to
meet your new legislators and ask
them questions about the process.
Editor’s Note: Moses Ross is chair
of the Multnomah Neighborhood Asso-
ciation. He can be reached via e-mail at
mnachair@gmail.com.
PoSt A to Z BuSINESS CARd dIRECtoRy 503-244-6933