Is the careless disposal of plastic shopping bags causing the death of 100,000 marine animals each year? While some activists say this is the case, Dr. Bonner Cohen, policy advisor to the group CFACT, disagrees. Comments Cohen: “This accusation against plastic shopping bags is based on a 1987 Canadian study that investigated the harm to marine animals from discarded fish nets. For reasons not fully understood, Australian researchers, in a more recent study, mistakenly attributed the death of 100,000 marine animals to plastic bags instead of the ‘plastic litter’ cited in the Canadian research. In truth, plastic bags do not harm wildlife, so this is but one more example of how shoddy science is used to attack plastic.”