Chicago Burb (Evanston) plans to Ban Bags - Plastic 'and' Paper

www.examiner.com...

By banning plastic 'and' paper bags, the only option is forcing shoppers to use reusable bags. Studies show that germs are being brought back into the stores in large amounts by unwashed reusable bags.

Evanston, Illinois wants to be the trend-setter on this issue, but apparently hasn't thought the whole thing through.

www.examiner.com...

reply to post by ChicagOpinion


i seen a documentry on a similar subject, this was explaining how much germs cash have on them..another way to implement a cashless society i think...

Why would you not wash your grocery bags? It seems like common sense to me.

As far as banning the plastic and paper bags that seems a bit much to me. People should be able to make up there own minds govt doesnt need to be involved in it.

reply to post by ChicagOpinion

The issue will continue to be discussed by Evanston's politicians in May. By then, hopefully the town will have a real problem to contend with so that they can bag the bag ban idea until they have a germ-free option to the germy reusable bags.

Wow. Yeah, I know Evanston - my kid's been at Northwestern there for 3.5 years now, and I visit frequently. I really like Evanston, enjoy the atmosphere - but the above (quoted from the article) says a lot, too.

Germs, germs, germs. My take on germs is that they're invisible for a reason - so we don't get all freaked out about them. There are numerous studies that have shown how some "germs" are an integral part of "good health". If we could see all the germs (especially those people who are OCD about them), we'd all go nuts.

www.medicinenet.com...

Heh. I used to work with a very sweet and kind lady from the Phillipines (now an American citizen) at a job where hundreds of people came in every day (okay - hotel front desk, large convention hotel). She had this OCD germaphobia thing really severely. For example, she would use only the tip of one finger to type on the keyboard (an integral part of checking guests in and out of the facility). On heavy volume days I could literally watch her anxiety level rising as she handled people's cash, credit cards, the pens they had used, etc. After, say 75 people in a row, she would excuse herself and run to the employee restroom to wash her hands. Meantime, she kept Purel in her drawer.

I felt bad for her. She was so afraid - every morning she'd come in (her shift started an hour after mine), and start Lysoling every keyboard on the 11-unit desk, the phones, the countertops. She once said she'd like to take a blacklight up into the rooms to see how many germs there were. I told her "Sweetie, I think that would be a huge mistake for you."

Here's a recent blog/info article about the issue.
www.squidoo.com...

Are We So Afraid of Germs That We Are Making Ourselves Sick?

Well, everyone in the story was very upset. I was a little upset, but then I thought. Surely this has been going on for the entire history of shopping carts. Why aren't there massive outbreaks of e coli, instead of the rare instances? Why aren't we all dead?

I'm just sayin'...for the history of MAN - heck, of the WORLD - even the UNIVERSE! -- there have been germs. Everywhere, inside us, all over us, all over everything we breathe, touch, drink, eat....EVERYWHERE. If we were so fragile as to be annihilated by germs we would have died out as a species eons ago.

Isn't is better just to leave well enough alone? I, for one, am GLAD I can't see them...or the mites in my eyebrows, or the bacteria that are on my skin even after I exfoliate...or on the surfaces in my house, even after I clean.

To my thinking, it's a sign of general anxiety that is a function of people's feeling of utter lack of control over anything. Which, of course, aside from our own choices and our daily actions, is true.

reply to post by ChicagOpinion


I hope Illinois stays in Illinois. Some crazy buggers there the closer you get to Chicago.