Bamboo Cutting Boards and Bamboo Knitting Needles

There's no doubt that bamboo products have grown on a massive scale the past several years. As a woodworker concerned with rumors that bamboo products are environmentally friendly, cheap, safe alternatives to wood products, I have taken the time to research the facts regarding such claims; especially after learning that most bamboo comes from the same source that provides lead-tainted toys for our children to play with and plastic-tainted pet food for our pets. Additionally, over half of the spam launched into cyberspace comes from Asia, and I am amused that Asian marketers are foolish enough to think an American craftsman would even consider buying their sub-standard products to re-sell. We receive constant SPAM from Asian manufacturers looking to recruit re-sellers under the veil of "cheap, eco-friendliness".

No, I don't like bamboo products because I don't like supporting foreign States that have no concern for the environment or the consumers that use them, and in many cases are, by design, cheap, throw-away imitations of the real thing. Throw-away consumerism is a waste of time and money. I don't fall for this "environmentally-friendly" propaganda either. The facts tend to state otherwise.......

Below, I summarize a remarkable report written by Dr. Jim Bowyer for Dovetail Partners.

Some environmental aspects of bamboo production are clearly positive. Wide distribution, rapid growth and renewability, a source of useful products and income for millions of traditionally low income people – all of these factors point to the environmentally and socially desirable material described in promotional materials for bamboo products.

But is this the whole story? Unfortunately - no.

A host of environmental problems associated with bamboo harvest and plantation establishment are readily apparent when examining the scientific literature. For instance, a recent assessment of bamboo production in China that involved scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and the University of Madrid (Ruiz-Pérez et al. 2001) included the following observations:

• “Recently, bamboo expansion has come at the expense of natural forests, shrubs, and low-yield mixed plantations . . . It is common practice to cut down existing trees and replace them with bamboo.” (emphasis added)

• “As forestlands tend to be in hilly and mountainous areas with steep slopes, clearcutting has resulted in an increase in erosion until the bamboo becomes fully established . . .”

• “Natural forests in the vicinity of bamboo plantations have sometimes given way to bamboo as a result of deliberate efforts to replace them or because of the vigorous natural expansion of bamboo in logged over forests. This process has also had a negative impact on biodiversity.”

• “The intensive management practices employed involve manual or chemical weeding and periodic tilling of the land to keep the soil clear of undergrowth. These practices increase erosion and result in single-species plantations over large areas.”

• “The intensive use of chemicals (pesticides, weed killers and fertilizers) [associated with growing bamboo] also affects the environment . . .”

Statements of a number of other researchers from the mid-1990s to the present underscore these observations.

- It grows like a weed with an intensive use of chemicals (pesticides, weed killers and fertilizers).

A bamboo cutting board or bamboo flooring is made from the thin strands of fibers that make up the stalk of this grass. A glue-type, formaldehyde based binding agent is applied under pressure to petrify the fibers into a usable surface. We know that Formaldehyde would be released as a highly toxic gas. Since China provides lead-based painted toys for our children and plastic contaminated pet food for our pets, we know that they are not properly concerned with the health and safety of consumers that use these products. What if bamboo cutting boards contained lead-based sealers or formaldehyde binders?

Bamboo can contain high amounts of silicates, which gives it it's hardness. A glass cutting board has a high dulling effect on the edges of knives, so I suspect that bamboo boards will be no different. Through use, if the binding agent begins to release bamboo strands or fibers, extreme care should be exercised in handling because a bamboo splinter can be a pain to deal with.

The points of Bamboo knitting needles become "prickly" after use, exposing the ends of the harder, stringy fibers.

Are the foreign countries that provide bamboo products concerned about the environment, and the health and safety of consumers that use those products... I mean really?