Microbeads Ban Proposed in New York

February 14, 2014

Exfoliants in some skincare products are proving hard to scrub out of waterways.  Tiny plastic particles called microbeads have been showing up in testing of the Great Lakes. For the first time in the U.S., New York lawmakers are proposing a ban.

The Microbeads-Free Waters Act would prohibit cosmetics containing microbeads from being sold in New York state. The small, round plastics are commonly found in cosmetic products like facial scrubs, soaps and toothpaste.

The proposed legislation comes after scientists’ findings that the beads, as tiny as granules of sand, are making it past sewage treatment plants and into streams and lakes. They can be mistaken for food, and eaten by fish and other wildlife. Along the way, the beads accumulate toxins already in the water. The toxins can then be carried up through the food chain, ending up in other wildlife and people consuming the fish. Research at the State University of New York at Fredonia indicated that 60 percent of the tiny plastics discovered in the Great Lakes were microbeads. Most of the plastic ends up in Lake Erie.

Stiv Wilson is policy director of 5 Gyres, an organization that campaigns to see plastic pollution removed from the world’s oceans. He says his organization is thinking of the bigger picture.

“Make no mistake, we are looking to eliminate these plastic microbeads from commerce entirely, globally,” he says.

Wilson says his organization is pushing for similar legislation in California and Pennsylvania.