The report which urges the government to ban the carry bags and bring back the traditional Indian jhola, speaks of the slow poison that the carry bags spread.

Though they are not food-grade plastic, about 70 per cent of these bags are used forcarrying eatables. The pigments used for colouring these plastic bags are mostly cadmium based. Invariably, these dyes leach on to the food stuffs. Curds turn green in colour and rasmalai, pink by the time consumers bring them home. Cadmium and its compounds are listed in the European Community's `Black List' of chemicals. It is bio-accumulative and toxic.

In children cadmium can cause bone abnormality. With age its concentration increases in the body. It accumulates in the kidneys and arteries causing high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis.

Plastics contain 54 potential carcinogens or cancer causing agents. Though all plastics emit fumes whether detectable or not, especially when heated, soft plastic used for carry bags releases more plasticizers than the hard ones. Plasticizers can migrate into the foods which have a high fat content. They also contaminate water and are persistent in the environment.

Carry bags are manufactured by almost 10,000 unregistered units around the country. There isno method of maintaining a quality standard for them.Of the carry bags, 58 per cent hardly last from the shops to the home. These are the only plastic bags which have zero reusability. Over 90 per cent of these carry bags are made by recycling of fourth or fifth grade plastic scrap and thus their recyclable utility is only 0.5 per cent. Toys, whistles, combs are made out of the still inferior quality carry bags.

Carry bags are sold for only Rs 1 per kilogram. If they are soiled, the price drops further. It takes 850 carry bags to make one kg. The extremely light weight of these bags demands that a huge quantity is collected for a paltry sum, this makes them least attractive for the unorganised sector of ragpickers. That's why they keep lying around, get buried with garbage in landfills or get incinerated with dry grass and twigs keep flying around the parks until they get soiled or they get entangled in the bushes and undergrowth on the hill sides. They keep lying there choking the grass and landmass. Mostof them find their way in the open sewers where they block waste water.

Carry bags are thus a major contributory factor in the ever increasing number of breeding grounds for mosquitoes, flies and bacteria of numerous epidemics. As sewers get blocked, methane gas produced in the sewage underneath cannot escape and this results in explosions in the sewer lines. When incinerated they give out chemical fumes. In the land fills, they give out harmful dioxins which leach into the soil and ground water. They do not degrade for centuries.

There is an alarming increase in the use of plastic products in the country. In 1991, it was 3.80 lakh tonnes, in 1992 it increased to 4.25 lakh tonnes and in 1993 it further increased by 35 per cent.

Give us an alternative -- Simi Garewal

I do think that anything that can be done to make the world a better place should be done. But there should also be the alternatives available. If people are expected to stop using plastic bags, they should be given something else.In America, for instance, a whole lot of communities and groups have turned to using cloth bags rather than plastic bags. But there should be someone who is willing to make them, perhaps big companies, or private entrepreneurs. It would work two ways - they would get their publicity, and the bags could be used by people. To expect the government to provide alternatives I think is a waste of time. People should start thinking that the world they live in extends beyond their homes - and do something about it. Of course, saying `no' is a good answer, but it doesn't always work out, does it?