Another Vote for Paper Bags

Re Erma Bombeck’s column, “Brown Paper Bags Have Sacks Appeal” (Jan. 7): My allegiance to brown paper bags stems not from nostalgia, but from looking ahead. The breath of the planet is at issue. Paper bags are recyclable and biodegradable and may even have been recycled from a previous existence, while the plastic ones endanger public health. Why are writers so slow to point out the flaws in plastics--the toxics they release, the raw materials they consume, their injuries to wildlife, and their durably noxious effects on the landscape?

Now, if Bombeck will only come out for returnables she will have made my spring.

FREDRIKA E. BERNSTEIN

Sherman Oaks