Biodegradable paper, or potato starch plastic?

Biodegradable paper, or potato starch plastic?

That’s the new choice in San Francisco since the recent SF Board of Supervisors vote that banned the use of plastic grocery bags at supermarkets and large drugstores. The new law mandates that only compostable plastic bags (made from potato or corn starch) or biodegradable paper bags can be used.

I like Mike Adams take on this controversy. On his NewsTarget web site (newstarget.com) he wrote: “Isn’t it interesting how easy it is to ban plastic bags that are dangerous for the environment but how difficult it is to ban chemical food ingredients that are dangerous to human health? The reason behind this, of course, is that plastic bag companies have a terrible lobby, but big food giants practically run Congress and government regulators like the USDA and FDA.”

If plastic bags were made out of the toxic chemicals found in processed foods, the EPA probably would have banned them years ago.

Sources:
“Our view on the Environment: Plastic-Bag Ban Full of Holes” USA Today, 4/2/07, blogs.usatoday.com
“100 Billion Reasons for Ban” Ross Mirkarimi, USA Today, 4/2/07, usatoday.com
“The Plastic Bag Ban” Mike Adams, NewsTarget, 4/2/07, newstarget.com