Is This Food or a Plastic Bag?

From the Healthy Child article "Is There a Healthier Plastic Container?": According to a report in the Christian Science Monitor, a line of corn-based plastics, called polylactides (PLA), has recently been developed by Cargill and Dow Chemical and is used to package products such as bottled water, electronics, and cups.

I'm concerned that now that the Canadian government and governments in other countries have officially acknowledged the danger of BPA in plastic, corn-based plastics will become the new "eco-friendly" trend for things like plastic bags and baby bottles.

It's so trendy to be "eco-friendly," but people don't really think about what this means. The other day, I got a corn-based plastic bag from the pet store, and when I realized it, I was appalled. Apparently, not many people have heard about "tortilla riots" in South America and the Amazon being razed to plant corn, thereby contributing to global warming. This morning, reports about skyrocketing food prices (staples like corn and rice, for example) are all over the news.

What does it mean when we take food that could feed starving people and use it to make plastic bags instead? And what does it mean when we unload tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere by demolishing a forest to plant corn which does not absorb carbon like a forest does and then use that corn not to feed people but to make ethanol (or plastic bags)?

I would like to use BPA-free bottles when I am a mother, but I am specifically going to seek out alternatives that are NOT made from corn.