I’m glad to see that many regions are taking action to curtail the excessive use and waste of plastic bags. More measures like these are needed to protect future generations and the environment, but you can act now simply by using cloth grocery bags in lieu of plastic ones.

Yes this may seem like a hassle but if we all started to do this and pitch in then we could limit the use of this onslaught of absoluetely unnecessary plastic that is such a waste and drain on the environment.

Pollution from plastic bags exposes your body to all sorts of toxins and is actually turning our oceans into plastic. In addition to the wildlife deaths they cause and the chemical additives from plastics that are now showing up in our environment, plastic bags use up huge quantities of oil (it takes 430,000 gallons of oil to produce 100 million plastic bags).

Plastics can make you sick by mimicking or blocking sex hormones, causing disruption of your endocrine system. Perhaps the most dangerous chemicals used in plastics are phthalates, which can affect everything from development and behavior to reproduction and immunity. They have been shown to hasten puberty in children, and cause many other problems.

Plastics may indeed have been the "wave of the future" for industry some 40 years ago, but we're paying for that dearly with our health today. Your body must constantly endure exposures to petroleum-based industrial chemicals contained in things most people take for granted, like plastic bags, bottled water and cosmetics. Particularly vulnerable are your children, who are exposed to plastics in the hospital and through baby bottles and toys.