California bans Microbeads

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California bans Microbeads
by \| 06-03-2016 03:49 0
California bans microbeads to protect marine life US state to phase out use of tiny plastic beads found in soap, toothpaste and body washes by 2020, in bid to protect fish and other marine life In order to prevent water pollution, many suggest reducing the use of synthetic detergents such as shampoo or conditioner. In contrast, soaps, toothpaste, or other toiletry sets seemed to be distanced from environmental issues. However, microbead, plastic microsphere that are used in cosmetics and personal care products, are so small that they are found in the bodies of fishes and other wildlife after passing through water filtration systems without disintegrating. Thus microbeads are known as number one factor that harms marine wildlife. The microbeads used in personal care products will be washed down the drain after use. They flow through sewer systems around the world, then they make their way ultimately into sea and ocean. Marine wildlife is unable to distinguish between microbeads and food and thus indiscriminately consumes microbeads. Now, 11% of over 663 different species negatively impacted are known to be due to ingestion of microbeads. Recognizing this problem, California governor Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring California to phrase out the use of microscopic exfoliating beads in personal care products starting in 2020 to protect the marine animals. The city council Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica stated that his bill, AB888, is passed to limit the use of non-biodegradable beads that contains various toxins. Although California has put attempts to pass similar legislation before, Beauty care product companies have strongly opposed it. However, California passed joint amendment this year with several other states to drop the business critics. The microbeads ban was one of legislation Mr. Brown signed in response to concern about environmental degradation. Credit: The Guardians, Beat the MICROBEAD.org

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21 Comments

says :
@John, Thank you for your interest to further research on this topic! I hope more people will be aware of this xD Thanks for reading!:)
Posted 18-03-2016 07:45

says :
@Heonjun, I didn't know it was on facebook haha :) well I read it from the newsarticle site called The Guardians, but anyways.I'm glad you're friend is taking an active role for the awareness :)
Posted 18-03-2016 07:44

says :
Another thing Yuna is that researches have found that these microbeads take a very long time to degrade, hence, they clog water systems. So, thank you for sharing this one. Very nice! :)
Posted 14-03-2016 00:05

says :
Oh I saw an article about this on facebook. One of my friends who's living in California cares deeply about environment and she urged her friends not to buy products that contain beads. I, too, was not aware of the severe circumstances until then, but now I stopped using foams with it. But still in south Korea, the general public still does not know the damage by the products.
Posted 09-03-2016 15:44

says :
@Bindu, I think they're starting to get attention and I'm glad our governor took strong action into it :)

Posted 08-03-2016 03:35

says :
Dear Yuna, I see the issue of chemical detergent and marine pollution has been taken into concern but Microbeads are often not cared for. It's encouraging to see California making attempts to ban microbeads in Personal care products.
Thank you for sharing :)
Posted 07-03-2016 22:12

says :
@Oseluese, They've been showing much efforts )
Posted 07-03-2016 20:46

says :
Very informative report. It's nice to know the government of California is making great efforts to protect marine life. Thanks for the report.
Posted 07-03-2016 15:11

says :
Very informative report. It's nice to know the government of California is making great efforts to protect marine life. Thanks for the report.
Posted 07-03-2016 15:08

says :
@Minjoo 선????,
Our governor has been trying hard to pass regulations regarding protection of marine species, it was possible this time because it was joint law with several other states around us so business companies couldn't really go against it.. especially considering that we are the main reason marine wildlife suffer due to microbeads, we probably should be more aware of this issue... :( Thank you for encouragement! 3
Posted 07-03-2016 09:38

says :
@Arushi, yes they are really harmful :( Not a lot of people are aware of it yet, but I've been seeing a lot of articles related to it recently so hopefully more people will know about it soon..^^
Posted 07-03-2016 09:35

says :
@syed, same here! especially because I use a lot of beauty products.. along with reducing the amount of water I use when i take shower (California is in severe drought still for some considerable year...) I'm definitely going to keep danger of microbeads in mind as well! :)
Posted 07-03-2016 09:34

says :
@Daniella, same here until I read the article! I probably would do the same :)
Posted 07-03-2016 09:31

says :
@Rohan, they're number one leading cause of marine species death...
Posted 07-03-2016 09:31

says :
@Manav Jha, our government defnitely tried hard to protect marine life, (and thank you <3)
Posted 07-03-2016 09:31

says :
Yuna, thanks for notifying us about California's courageous and praiseworthy effort. It is a shocking fact that microbeads are one of the factors for disturbing marine life, while the seriousness has not yet been introduced to a lot of people. It is an unfortunate news for microbead manufacturing companies in California, but the fact that companies should work towards being ecofriendly is undeniable. Wouldn't it be possible to develop technolgies such as making water soluble microbeads? That was my own imagination, but I believe it is not totally absurd. Anyways, keep up the good work :-)
Posted 07-03-2016 01:47

Arushi Madan says :
Microbeads are indeed wreaking havoc on our environment. So glad to know that government of California has put ban on them. Thanks for sharing.
Posted 07-03-2016 01:08

says :
This was a shocking fact. I had no idea that such beauty and personal care products were made at the cost of the marine life. Great initiative by the Government of California.
Posted 06-03-2016 20:08

says :
I didn't know that there was something like this in personal care products! Thank you for this report, I'll start checking the goods that we buy to lessen the spread of such pollutant.
Posted 06-03-2016 16:08