THE Consumers Association of Penang is encouraging various groups to use eco-bags (reusable cloth bags) to help reduce the use of plastic bags. CAP is now working on a "No plastic bags" project with a group of pharmacists from the northern states.

We are also encouraging major supermarkets to embark on their own eco-bag campaigns since it is at supermarkets that the largest number of plastic bags are handed out.

In November last year, CAP supported the launching by the then-deputy minister of housing and local government, Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun, of a campaign in Selangor to cut down the use of plastic bags.

The campaign was a step in the right direction as it was clear that the mindless use of plastic bags for shopping and other purposes had become a major ecological and health problem in our society.

CAP has long called for an end to the use of non-biodegradable bags for shopping purposes. As part of its campaign to "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle", CAP has advocated the use of more sustainable shopping and other bags for daily use.
Discarded plastic bags ruin our environment and harm our health. Recently, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported that toxic elements in plastic bags cause an "enormous amount of neurological problems and so on" besides the mountains of ugly waste.

It is acknowledged that chemical elements used in plastic-bag production are highly deleterious to human health. They can cause cancers, reproductive-organ dysfunction and damage to the central nervous system. When plastic bags are burned, the negative effects are intensified.

Plastic bags clog drains and waterways, posing a threat to cities and towns. For instance, plastic bags blocking drains worsened the effects of severe flooding in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998. This led to a ban on plastic bags in Bangladesh in 2002.

Humans are not the only victims. About 100,000 marine animals like whales, seals and turtles are killed by plastic bags every year -- either through suffocation or through indigestion after swallowing them.

The biggest problem with plastic bags is that they take a very long time -- a minimum of 20 years -- to be biodegraded.

For all these reasons, many countries -- including Australia, Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy and Taiwan -- are now banning the use of plastic bags.

Ireland achieved a 94 per cent reduction in the use of plastic bags within six months. This suggests that the use of plastic bags can be reduced dramatically with proper policies in place.

It is unfortunate that in Malaysia the public is not enlightened and motivated enough to put enough pressure on the government to implement a ban on the use of plastic bags. CAP urges the government to seriously look into banning the use of plastic bags for a cleaner and healthier nation.