Soiled, reusable shopping bags pose health risk: Study

A study out of Canada found that reusable shopping bags might be bad for our health.

The Environment and Plastics Industry Council stated Wednesday that a study it funded shows reusable bags “pose a public health risk” due to high counts of yeast, moulds and bacterias in dirty reusable bags.

According to Dr. Richard Summerbell, who spoke on behalf of EPIC, potential hazards include “food poisoning … bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections.”

But B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said reusable bags do not pose a serious public health risk if consumers treat bags as they would cutting boards or food preparation surfaces, and wash them regularly and dry them well.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't think to wash these bags very often. But then again, I also wouldn't put a package of raw meat right in them because, after working as a cashier in high school, I know how leaky those packages can be.

After this initial reaction, I took a second look at who funded this study: The Environment and Plastics Industry Council. Just poking around their website for a minute, I found a link to http://www.myplasticbags.ca/, which actually promotes the use of plastic bags. Hrm... biased study?

Anyway, reusable bags are really popular right now and for a good reason--they're an easy way for anyone to lessen their impact on the environment. I have a bunch of them, but I end up not using them because I need the store bags to scoop cat litter in to. Anyone have any suggestions (aside from buying plastic bags to scoop into) for me so that I can use my reusable bags and also keep my cats happy?