Liberal activists may want to curb their efforts to ban plastic grocery bags.
Oregon investigators have traced an outbreak of norovirus to a reusable grocery bag that members of a Beaverton girls' soccer team passed around when they shared cookies.
At the tournament, one girl got sick on Saturday and spent six hours in a chaperone's bathroom. Symptoms of the bug, often called "stomach flu," include vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps. The chaperone took the girl back to Oregon.
On Sunday, team members had lunch in a hotel room, passing around the bag and eating cookies it held. On Monday, six girls got sick.
Oregon has been a hotspot for canvas reusable bags over plastic and paper bags. Portland became one of the largest cities in the U.S. to ban plastic bags in July 2011. A statewide voter initiative to ban traditional grocery bags failed in 2010, despite heavy support from environmental groups.
