Harmful plastics ;- onevisit2know

Disadvantages of plastics

Millions of people are unwillingly pouting hundreds of tones of tiny plastic beads down the drain. These can persist in the environment for more than 100 years. And have been found to contaminate a wide variety of fresh water and marine wild life.

Few consumers realize that many cosmetics products, such as facial scrubs toothpastes and shower gels, contain thousands of micro plastic beads which have been deliberately added by the manufacturers of consumer products over the past two decades.

Plastic micro beads, which are typically less than a millimeter wide and are too small to be filtered by sewage treatment plants, are able to carry deadly toxins into the animals that ingest them, including those in the human food chain such as fish muscles and crabs.

While many people have tried to recycle their plastic waste, cosmetic companies have at the same time have been quietly adding hundreds of cubic meters of plastic such as polythene to products. One estimate suggests that in the U.S. alone, up to 1200 cubic meters of micro plastic beads are washed down to the drains each year.

Scientists and environmentalists have started lobbying against the industry to stop using plastic micro beads in exfoliate skin creams and washes (hand wash, face wash etc.), but with a limited success relatively small number of firms have publically agreed to phase them out. Britain, along with the rest of the Europe is being urged to follow the lead of new york state, which last week became the first place to prohibit the use of plastic micro beads in cosmetic products after a failure by the personal care companies to agree to an immediate voluntary ban.

  

The new York state assembly decided to act after the scientists found the disturbing levels of plastic micro beads in the great lakes of north America. The researchers said that the micro beads arrived in waste water contaminated with the micro plastics residues of more than 100 consumer products including facial scrubs, soaps, shampoos and toothpaste.

“Peoples are unwilling to sacrifice water quality just to continue using products with micro beads. I never met anyone who has wanted plastic on their face or in their fish’, said Robert sweeny, chairperson of the assembly conservation committee, after last week’s unanimous vote to ban the use of micro beads in personal care products.

The u.k.’s house of commons science and technology committee last year, heard evidence of the impact that micro plastic waster could be having on aquatic environment. Some panel members now want tougher laws against the cosmetic firms which continue to use them.