Plastics

It can be hard to find what you're looking for in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But scientists on an August research cruise had no problem tracking down their subject. "We did observe a lot of plastic out there in the ocean about 1,000 miles from anything," said Miriam Goldstein, chief scientist on the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition. "It's pretty shocking." A group of doctoral students and research volunteers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Project Kaisei spent nearly three weeks on the research vessel New Horizon taking samples and exploring the plastic garbage patch floating in the North Pacific.

Los Angeles County supervisors backed off a threat Tuesday to ban plastic shopping and grocery bags that environmental experts call unsightly and destructive. Instead, officials chose the weakest of five alternatives recommended by county executives: a volunteer program that leaves it to supermarket and store owners to coax customers into packing their purchases in reusable containers.

They dance in the wind, decorate trees and dot rivers. They rip into fingers and bang against legs. By some estimates, China uses 3 billion of them every day. But if the government has its way, the thin plastic bags that blight this country will soon be a thing of the past. Under an ambitious plan announced in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has announced a ban on the production of the flimsiest of the bags by June 1.

The Santa Monica City Council delayed action late Tuesday on the drafting of an ordinance that would ban "single-use" plastic carry-out bags at all stores and restaurants within the city and would require retailers to charge a fee for paper bags. The measure, supported by Heal the Bay, an influential environmental organization based in Santa Monica, is aimed at accelerating a shift away from highly polluting plastic bags in favor of reusable canvas and other bags.

Conservation-mindful Seattlites know their garbage. They pack compost bins, fill yard waste carts, separate glass bottles and jars into tubs, and pack paper, cans and plastic jugs into oversize recycling containers. A city ordinance prohibits putting recyclables in the garbage. Residents can be fined for tossing too much glass or paper in the trash. Low-cost city-issued rain barrels help homeowners reroute well-known Northwest drizzle.

A controversial, estrogen-like chemical in plastic could be harming the development of children's brains and reproductive organs, a federal health agency concluded in a report released Tuesday. The National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, concluded that there was "some concern" that fetuses, babies and children were in danger because bisphenol A, or BPA, harmed animals at low levels found in nearly all human bodies.

Congress on Wednesday waded into an escalating scientific dispute over a controversial ingredient in plastic products that some think may harm the development of children's brains and interfere with human reproduction. Members of a Senate consumer affairs subcommittee faulted federal agencies for reacting too slowly to concerns that children are exposed to bisphenol A, or BPA, through leaching from such items as water bottles, baby bottles and the linings of food and baby formula cans.

The synthetic chemical bisphenol A has long been found in many household products, but it's just starting to become a household name. Not to mention a hot topic in the scientific community. "Papers about it are being published at the rate of about one a day," says John Bucher, associate director for the National Toxicology Program, an agency of the National Institutes of Health.

It was business as usual last week at Huntington Park's Crown Poly Inc., where workers in the brightly lit factory scurried around large, loud machines churning out hundreds of thousands of clear plastic bags per hour. But all that could change if the Los Angeles City Council has its way. A day before I visited Crown Poly, the council had voted to ban plastic bags at supermarkets and stores citywide by 2010.

This environmentally friendly city put a green spin Tuesday on the checkout question "Paper or plastic?," becoming the first in the nation to outlaw non-recyclable plastic bags from use in supermarkets, drugstores and other large retailers. By a 10-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors required the use of compostable or recyclable bags -- a move officials predicted could soon be imitated by other cities nationwide. One supervisor voted against the ban, saying the issue needed more study.