Leftists love to outdo themselves by virtue signaling and often get into contests to see who can be more woke.
About five years ago, California decided it was going to save the planet by banning this item at restaurants.
But this leftist move to save the planet just took a toxic twist.
A Turtle Got a Straw in Its Nose
In 2018, leftists in Seattle began a movement to ban plastic straws because they were damaging the environment.
The movement grew like a virus and spread to London and Miami.
At first, California said you could have a straw, but you have to ask for it.
But then the leftists started banning them and people had to start using ineffective paper straws, which quickly collapsed and didn’t fit well in to-go cups.
This happened after a hapless sea turtle got a straw in its nose in 2015 and a video about it went viral on YouTube.
The turtle was off the coast of Costa Rica.
But like most virtue signaling efforts, removing plastic straws didn’t make a dent in the planet’s use of plastic items.
Starbucks and other woke companies phased out straws and started giving their adult customers drinks in plastic sippy cups.
To make the stupidity more fun, virtue signaling disability advocates started protesting that the ban was very hard on people with mobility issues.
Libs Move to Masks
The desire to ban straws died down as the pandemic struck and people started wearing disposable masks in the spring of 2020.
But leftists turned a blind eye to the amount of waste this practice was generating.
MIT news estimates that the U.S. created 7,200 tons of waste per day in the form of disposable masks because of the mandates.
Your Kid’s Straw is Toxic
Environmentalists have a new concern – toxic straws.
It turns out that the “environmentally safe” paper straws contain dangerous “forever chemicals.”
Forever Chemicals are PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
This was a chemical created by DuPont that was introduced into the environment via Teflon.
These chemicals are also in waterproof clothing and grease resistant to-go boxes.
Many people are concerned because now we know these PFASs are dangerous to human health and are everywhere.
The chemicals have leached into our water and soil.
And unfortunately, they don’t seem to be going away.
According to NRDC, “PFAS have now been linked to a wide range of health risks in both human and animal studies—including cancer (kidney and testicular), hormone disruption, liver and thyroid problems, interference with vaccine effectiveness, reproductive harm, and abnormal fetal development.”
These chemicals are now in the environment, but especially in paper straws.
A journal called Food Additives and Contaminants reported that forever chemicals have now been added to paper straws to make them last longer.
They tested 39 plastic alternative straws and found PFASs in everything but stainless steel.
The chemicals now used in the paper straws makes them non-biodegradable, which means the environmentalists are back where they started.
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
