Survey Shows Bottle Bill Support

A recent public opinion poll found that more than 80% of those Californians surveyed favor deposits for soft drink and beer containers as a means of encouraging recycling and reducing litter.

The overwhelming support for such a law coincides with the introduction of legislation in Sacramento that will require a 5-cent deposit on glass, can and plastic drink containers.

The new bottle bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), is similar to Proposition 11, which was defeated by a 56% to 44% vote margin in 1982. Californians Against Waste, a consumer group active in promoting recycling, is spearheading the current drive to implement container deposits.

The group claims that Proposition 11 lost only because of a last-minute “deceptive, one-sided campaign against the measure” launched by the beer and soft drink industry.

The most recent survey was conducted by the Public Interest Poll, a joint venture between the University of Southern California and Common Cause. A random sample of 512 Californians were asked this question: “The bottle bill is a proposal requiring that a 5-cent deposit be paid on all beverage containers. The deposit would be returned when the bottle or can is returned to the store. How do you feel about this proposal?”

Support for the bill spanned all ideological, economic and age categories. For instance, 82% of all Republicans surveyed support the measure while 78% of all Democrats queried were also supportive. Additionally, the bottle bill was favored by 84% of the women questioned and 75% of the men.

Nine other states currently have similar laws in effect and some have recorded that recycling levels have reached 90% while litter has been reduced by 80%, according to Californians Against Waste. Currently, only 6% of this state’s glass bottles and 1% of its plastic containers are recycled.

Food Versus Cash--A unique explanation for the hunger problems besetting a good portion of Africa has nothing to do with weather, harvests or refugees, according to Oxfam, a British development organization. The group reports that a number of countries, whose people are suffering from food shortages, have diverted viable agricultural land away from foodstuffs to inedible cash crops.

“Zimbabwe had to import 400,000 tons of maize this year to feed its people, but reports record harvests of tobacco, cotton and soya beans. In Guinea-Bissau, where children are often short of protein, local sales of peanuts have been banned to maximize exports,” states the group’s Earthscan Bulletin. “Over the last 20 years, Africa has doubled its sugar cane output and quadrupled its tea production, while food production per head has declined.”

The group’s comments were carried in a newsletter published by the San Francisco-based Hunger Project, which called the statements “controversial.”

Looking at Recalls--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a number of product recalls in the past few weeks. One of the more interesting actions involves dehydroepiandrosterone, a substance sold as DHEA.

The product is a steroidal hormone which has been sold through mail order advertisements and in retail stores for “weight management, enhanced sex life and longer life,” according to the FDA.

The agency claims companies are marketing DHEA as a drug without the necessary government approval on the product’s safety and effectiveness. There have been few adverse effects linked to DHEA, but questions remain about the risks from long-term use of the substance.

FDA’s main concern is that DHEA may be manufactured from human urine. “Scientific studies have not established what effect reintroducing into the body this concentrated bodily excess may have,” the agency’s recall announcement stated.

Also getting the FDA hook is Kama-Mil powder, an infant formula, found to have a “severe deficiency of several essential nutrients.”

Wishing Well Distributing of Graton, Calif., and Threshold Enterprises of Santa Cruz are the firms marketing the Kama-Mil. The agency recommends that the product not be used for infant feeding and be returned to place of purchase.