More Evidence on Liberal Shortsightedness

GorT has previously written about his belief that liberals, largely, seek the short-term, knee-jerk solution without considering the longer term ramifications.  Well, courtesy of the Twitter Machine and one of my fellow Gormos retweeting it, I noticed this juicy tidbit:  Cities with bans, taxes or fees on plastic bag usage have some serious health problems stemming from the liberal policy.

A few excerpts from the article:

1. According to the plastic bag industry, a ban or reduction affects an industry employing 30,000 Americans.  And the San Francisco Environmental Department reported that plastic bag litter from retail establishments accounts for only 0.6% of waste found.  
2. From the LA Times last May, "A reusable grocery bag left in a hotel bathroom caused an outbreak of norovirus-induced diarrhea and nausea that struck nine of 13 members of a girls’ soccer team in October, Oregon researchers reported Wednesday."
3. According to a study conducted by Jonathan Klick and Joshua Wright, who are law professors at the University of Pennsylvania and George Mason University, respectively found that emergency-room admissions related to E. coli infections increased in San Francisco after the ban. (Nearby counties did not show this increase.) And this effect showed up as soon as the ban was implemented. (“There is a clear discontinuity at the time of adoption.”) The San Francisco ban was also associated with increases in salmonella and other bacterial infections. Similar effects were found in other California towns that adopted such laws.
4. Washing the reusable bags will eliminate 99.9% of the germs and bacteria but 97% of people report not washing their bags.  Plus, washing the bags will incur an environmental cost as well.

Again, maybe they should take a pause and actually think about the bigger picture.  Dirty hippies.