Plastics suspect in lobster illness

People are lazy, irresponsible and ignorant.

What's funny is that the very same people who do little or nothing to stop this disaster are the ones claiming to protect their own families.

They are "too busy" earning money to buy plastic garbage for their kids to do anything to stop this. Catch 22?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable_plastic

One way to cut down on the problem, charge for plastic bags. That is what they do in Europe. In Latvia, it was routine to pay as much as $.40 per large size plastic bags. I don't know for sure, but I think that included the cost of the bag(less overhead for the retailer) and a hefty environmental tax.
The net effect of this is lower overhead cost for the retailer(the customer who wants a bag pays for it rather than all customers)---a tax increase that is voluntary(if you want a bag, you pay a tax, if you don't use a bag, you don't pay a tax). It is common practice to carry reusable bags, or to save the bags and reuse them.
Pretty good system I think. I would favor doing that here. I would also favor a deposit/return system for fast food packaging. Customers who return packaging get a refund. Customers who don't return packaging contribute a dividend to the retailers profit, and pay a tax. Customers who do return packaging do not pay a tax.
I would also favor a ban on selling alcohol beverages for individual consumption in glass containers. And a very hefty deposit on any containers over say 1 liter. $5-$10 for instance. Return the bottle---you get a refund. Get drunk and break the bottle for people and dogs to step on the broken glass, you pay a hefty tax and pay for the bottle. The rest of us who don't get drunk and break bottles, and return them, don't pay for the bottles that those who slobs are breaking. As it is, if you are responsible and don't break bottles, the cost of the broken bottles and extra trash is paid for when you buy the product.

it is OBVIOUS>>>>>>>

the laws have to change. companies that produce plastic have to be shut down.

this is fucking ridiculous.

learning about this stuff is like waking up from a dream into a nightmare.

Here is a list of some of the countries that already restrict plastic shopping bags or plan to do so.

* AFRICA -- Rwanda and Eritrea banned the bags outright, as has Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia. South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have minimum thickness rules, and Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho and Tanzania are considering similar measures.

* AUSTRALIA -- Coles Bay in Tasmania became "Australia's First Plastic Bag-Free Town" in April 2003. Dozens of others followed suit. In January 2008, the environment minister called for supermarkets to phase out use of the bags nationwide by the end of the year.

* BANGLADESH -- The first large country to ban bags in 2002. Bangladesh blamed millions of discarded bags for blocking drains and contributing to floods that submerged much of the country in 1988.

* BHUTAN -- The isolated Himalayan country banned plastic shopping bags, street advertising and tobacco in 2007, as part of its policy to foster "Gross National Happiness".

* CHINA -- The ban on ultra-thin bags that goes into force on June 1 will cut pollution and save valuable oil resources, the State Council, or cabinet, says. In May 2007 Hong Kong proposed a 50 cent "polluter pays" levy on plastic shopping bags.

* ENGLAND -- In May 2007 the village of Modbury in south Devon became Europe's first plastic bag-free town, selling reuseable and biodegradable bags instead. London's 33 councils plan to ban ultra-thin bags from 2009 and tax others.

* FRANCE -- In 2005, French lawmakers voted to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags by 2010. The French island of Corsica became the first to ban plastic bags in large stores in 1999.

* INDIA -- The western state of Maharashtra banned the manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in August 2005, after claims that they choked drains during monsoon rains. Other states banned ultra-thin bags to cut pollution and deaths of cattle, sacred to Hindus, which eat them.

* IRELAND -- A plastic bag tax was passed in 2002. The tax created an initial 90 percent drop in bag use, according to the Environment Ministry, though usage gradually rebounded.

* ITALY -- Outright ban to be introduced from 2010.

* TAIWAN -- A partial ban in 2003 phased out free bags in department stores and supermarkets and disposable plastic plates, cups and cutlery from fast food outlets. Most stores charge people who don't bring their own T$1 ($0.03).

* UNITED STATES -- San Francisco became the first and only U.S. city to outlaw plastic grocery bags in April 2008. The ban is limited to large supermarkets.

The state of New Jersey is mulling phasing them out by 2010.

Sources: Reuters (Writing by Gillian Murdoch, Beijing Editorial Reference Unit, Editing by Alan Wheatley and Valerie Lee) 27 May 2008 07:06:17 GMT

I dont know about anybody else but I miss getting my pop in a bottle. And my milk in a carton.

I still buy milk in cartons for my son (rgbh free) and only buy bottles made of glass or I make my own... drinks, not bottles ;-).

How big is this problem? I use plastic bottles, and deposit them in the recyclable, or garbish cans if I'm out and about.

Are we actually sure that plastic causes the problem?

I require the use of plastic for my spring water, because I believe clorine is no good for you.

you either own one or more Nalgene bottles and use them religiously or else you're really not too serious , however much you recycle .

I often wonder if plastic is to modern civilization as lead was to Rome.

I live on the NE coast & it's unsettling to see how much plastic has been washing up on the beach & how much plastic is being left behind by beach goers lately. We need to stop using our oceans as toilets if we don't want to suffer these consequences.

Humans are destructive. We are careless with the most random of things that eventually end up having a negative effect on the environment.
This is an just another example, and I think we all are to blame, because who can honestly say they have never littered in their life?

I never thought I would ever feel sorry for a crustacean; but seeing this creature looking this ill makes me genuinely sad.

Still, humans have the worst disease: apathy.

I cannot fathom how long it takes to get stores to stop using plastic bags. Cruise ships used to/some still do dump sewage and I find evidence of folks that still litter waterways and parks and remote hiking trails.

When I tell the stores that I don't want plastic for fruits, veggies, etc I am often stared at. If there are not cloth bag alternatives then I don't shop there.

I remember wen we never had plastic. Then it was all about broken glass. In fact there is a beach in CA that is famous for its ocean smoothed glass that was once the towns dumping site. People still go there and pick up glass for aquariums.

My 3 year old granddaughter was at the park where some kids threw down a bunch o ftrash. She turned to her Daddy and asked him, "why did they do that? If only the rest of the world cared as much.

For grocery shopping, take bags with you and let the managers try to find a posted sign that says you can't. Should they actually have one, pre-mark your bags and leave them at the check-out for when you return.
That's what I've been doing.
One step, leading to more. Right?

Umm recycle?? As if lobsters werent in enough danger.

Out of Fort Bragg on the California coast is a beach that's called Glass beach. But, you have to understand that it was once a garbage site for that area and it was only closed 20 years ago or so. I, for one, am intolerant of people who litter and have no problem voicing to those who do.