South Australia bans plastic bags to save 6 fish per year
Or, how a 1 in 66 million chance isn’t an inconvenient truth…
The reasoning for the plastic bag ban?
Planet Ark spokeswoman Anne-Marie Byrne said other states should follow SA.
“It is estimated that 100,000 marine creatures die each year from plastic pollution,” she said.
Source:
– http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,25423800-2682,00.html
This piece of genius quote has it’s basis in a study conducted over 20 years ago by Canadians.
The gist of it is – between 1981 and 1984 approximately 100,000 marine animals including birds were killed by discarded nets. Plastic bags are not mentioned.
In 2002, the Australian Government commissioned a study into plastic bags which referenced this – but mis-quoted it and attributed 100,000 deaths per year due to plastic bags.
Here’s the report:
– http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/publications/waste/plastic-bags/analysis.html
Time for some math…
If the 1987 Canadian figure is still accurate enough AND we acquiesce to the natural stupidity of the argument to placate the green morons by ascribing plastic bags as the evil killers – then let’s say 25,000 animals die each year because of plastic bags.
South Australia has about 1.598 million people, or 0.0239% of the world population, and it is estimated the state uses approximately 400 million plastic bags per year.
0.0239% of 25,000 = 5.975
Yep – they’re basing this on 1.6 million people being responsible for the death of 6 fish per year, one every 2 months.
So it takes 400,000,000 bags to kill 6 marine animals – in other words the odds of a plastic bag causing animal harm is around 1 in 66 million – if we’re to believe the hype, and ascribe these fish deaths to plastic bags.
Further reading:
* Scientists trash plastic bag ban
* SERIES OF BLUNDERS TURNED THE PLASTIC BAG INTO GLOBAL VILLAIN
* Plastic Marine Debris: What We Know
* Typo in 2002 Australian Report Responsible for Plastic Bag Mythology
Basically:
