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This post originally appeared on Grist. Grist is a nonprofit news agency working toward a planet that doesn t burn and a future that doesn t suck. Sign up to receive Grist s top stories in your inbox.
In 2015, a marine biologist filmed her team removing a plastic straw from a sea turtle s nostril. The video went viral, and a few years later, the global campaign to eliminate single-use plastics was in full swing. Companies like Starbucks, McDonald s, Evian, United Airlines, and even Red Lobster vowed to cut down on plastic waste. But even the most stringent anti-straw advocates among us know that sustainability has its limits. When it comes to the tools doctors use to poke, prod, test, and treat us with, human safety, not the safety of the planet, is paramount.