I was so naïve. I honestly thought that when President Obama approved a ban on microbeads that that would be the end of it. (Microbeads are tiny bits of plastic found in exfoliating body washes and facial scrubs.) The other night when I was discussing these things with my teenage son, he brought me a bottle of facial scrub that his dad had bought for him. When I read the label, I was aghast to say the least.

 

If you don’t know anything about these, let me give you a few statistics. Even though our water treatment facilities trap some of these, it doesn’t get them all. So about 8 trillion of these are released into our waterways everyday. 

 

Once in the water systems, these microbeads become food for small fish which then travel all the way up the food chain. Some of the pollutants in these beads have been linked to birth defects, cancer, and developmental problems in humans. The beads can also release BPA and other chemical additives.

 

Going back and check the wording of the ban, manufacturers need to phase out these ingredients, starting in 2017. Read what is on the label. If the list includes polyethylene or polypropylene, two types of plastic commonly used in microbeads, don’t buy it. One of the products we were looking at claims to have bursting beads, making it sound as if they magically disappear. Not true. And if you currently have a product that contains these, close the lid tightly and dispose of them in the trash. We’re all going to have to find an alternative to what we were using before, so we might as well start now.

 

(Editor’s Note: Above letter edited for brevity)