Flimsy plastic shopping bags should be banned and a hefty levy slapped on thicker ones to rid Kenya of an increasing environmental and health menace, a report urges.
At least two million plastic bags are now being handed out each year to people shopping at supermarkets and kiosks in Nairobi alone, the study by experts at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), says.
The bags, many of which are so thin they are simply thrown away after one trip from the shops, have become a familiar eyesore in both urban and countryside areas. Plastic bags also block gutters and drains, choke farm animals and marine wildlife and pollute the soil as they gradually break down.
Wangari Mathaai, the assistant environment minister in Kenya and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has also linked plastic bag litter with malaria. The bags, when discarded, can fill with rainwater offering ideal and new breeding grounds for the malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
A ban on bags that are less than 30 microns thick and the levy on thicker ones are among a raft of proposals aimed at reducing the use of polythene bags and providing funds for alternative, more environmentally-friendly, carriers such as cotton or sisel bags.
Cash raised from the levy would also go towards the setting up of efficient and effective recycling schemes, says the report funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) of Kenya.
Operating the plastic bag levy could become a blue-print for similar schemes aimed at the rising tide of other wastes confronting Kenya and countries across Africa and the developing world. The conclusions and recommendations are also based on lessons learnt from waste management schemes introduced elsewhere including Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Rwanda, South Africa and several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
An estimated 4000 tonnes of the thin plastic bags, known in the report as “flexibles”, are produced each month in Kenya mainly for shopping purposes but also for products like bread. About half of them are less than 15 microns thick and some are as little as seven microns thick. The industry is growing at between eight and ten per cent a year supplying both the local market and nearby countries in particular Uganda.
“With the exception of some paper bags, there are hardly any alternatives to plastic shopping bags. Shopping bags made from natural products are available in the market but are hardly used because of the easy and free availability of plastic shopping bags in market outlets and the low price which they are sold in outdoor markets,” says the report. — Samina Iqbal
A deadly habit
Chewing areca nut or betel nut contributes significantly to oral cancer, liver and oesophageal cancer, states a recent issue of Diabetologia. Areca nut contains nitrosamines, that are not only carcinogenic, but also cause diabetes. In Taiwan, areca nut chewing has become one of the most popular lifestyle habits. It has been introduced only in the last forty years. A population based cross sectional study was performed on the Taiwanese people to determine the dose dependent effects of areca nut on the development of Type 2 diabetes. A total of 14,816 men were included. Females were excluded because a very small number chewed areca nuts.
The subjects underwent blood tests and blood pressure measurements. Body Mass Index and Waist Hip Ratio was calculated to determine obesity. The results showed that compared to non-chewers, areca nut chewers had higher prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The duration of areca nut chewing and its dose was an important influencing factor. The chewers also required drugs for diabetes more frequently and at a younger age. It is also argued that the lime paste used with the areca nut could be harmful. But there are no such reports of lime paste causing cancer or diabetes.
Another study conducted on Asians settled in United Kingdom showed areca nut chewers to develop diabetes at an earlier age compared to Europeans.
The Taiwanese study concluded that a close association existed between areca nut chewing and Type 2 diabetes. The association is dose dependent with respect to the duration of areca nut use and the quantity of areca nut chewed per day. — Dr Fatema Jawad
