David Suzuki: Microbeads in body scrubs highlight our proble
DrCaleb @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:08 am
$1:
David Suzuki: Microbeads in body scrubs highlight our problematic plastic lifestyle
by David Suzuki on April 21st, 2015 at 4:22 PM
How much are whiter teeth and smoother skin worth to you? Are they worth the water and fish in the Great Lakes? The cormorants that nest along the shore? The coral reefs that provide refuge and habitat for so much ocean life? Are they worth the oceans that give us half the oxygen we breathe, or the myriad other creatures the seas support?
If you use personal-care products such as exfoliators, body scrubs, and toothpastes containing microbeads, those are the costs you could be paying. The tiny bits of plastic—less than five millimetres in diameter, and usually from one-third to one millimetre—are used as scrubbing agents. Now they’re turning up everywhere, especially in oceans, lakes, and along shorelines. They aren’t biodegradable.
Research by the 5 Gyres Institute found an average of 43,000 beads per square kilometre in the Great Lakes, with concentrations averaging 466,000 near cities. Tests on fish from Lake Erie found an average of 20 pieces of plastic in medium-sized fish and eight in small fish. Cormorants, which eat fish, had an average of 44 pieces of plastic each. Microplastics have been found in the oceans and even under Arctic sea ice. Scientists at Australia’s James Cook University found corals starving after eating the tiny beads, their digestive systems blocked.
It’s not just the plastic that harms animals; the beads absorb toxic chemicals, making them poisonous to any creature that mistakes them for food or that eats another that has ingested the plastic—all the way up the food chain. Because humans eat fish and other animals, these toxins can end up in our bodies, where they can alter hormones and cause other health problems.
It’s a high price to pay for limited benefits from unnecessary personal care products. Exfoliators and scrubs can use any number of harmless natural ingredients, including baking soda, oatmeal, ground seeds, sea salt, and even coffee grounds. Microbeads are not only pointless in toothpaste; they can be harmful. Dentists and hygienists are finding plastic particles embedded under people’s gum lines, which can cause inflammation and infection.
. . .
As consumers, we can avoid products containing microbeads and put pressure on companies and governments to end their use (5 Gyres has an online petition). And, because more than a third of all plastic is disposable packaging, such as bags and bottles, we can and must limit our overall use, and reuse or recycle any that we do use.
Plastic has made life more convenient, but many of us remember a time when we got along fine without it.
by David Suzuki on April 21st, 2015 at 4:22 PM
How much are whiter teeth and smoother skin worth to you? Are they worth the water and fish in the Great Lakes? The cormorants that nest along the shore? The coral reefs that provide refuge and habitat for so much ocean life? Are they worth the oceans that give us half the oxygen we breathe, or the myriad other creatures the seas support?
If you use personal-care products such as exfoliators, body scrubs, and toothpastes containing microbeads, those are the costs you could be paying. The tiny bits of plastic—less than five millimetres in diameter, and usually from one-third to one millimetre—are used as scrubbing agents. Now they’re turning up everywhere, especially in oceans, lakes, and along shorelines. They aren’t biodegradable.
Research by the 5 Gyres Institute found an average of 43,000 beads per square kilometre in the Great Lakes, with concentrations averaging 466,000 near cities. Tests on fish from Lake Erie found an average of 20 pieces of plastic in medium-sized fish and eight in small fish. Cormorants, which eat fish, had an average of 44 pieces of plastic each. Microplastics have been found in the oceans and even under Arctic sea ice. Scientists at Australia’s James Cook University found corals starving after eating the tiny beads, their digestive systems blocked.
It’s not just the plastic that harms animals; the beads absorb toxic chemicals, making them poisonous to any creature that mistakes them for food or that eats another that has ingested the plastic—all the way up the food chain. Because humans eat fish and other animals, these toxins can end up in our bodies, where they can alter hormones and cause other health problems.
It’s a high price to pay for limited benefits from unnecessary personal care products. Exfoliators and scrubs can use any number of harmless natural ingredients, including baking soda, oatmeal, ground seeds, sea salt, and even coffee grounds. Microbeads are not only pointless in toothpaste; they can be harmful. Dentists and hygienists are finding plastic particles embedded under people’s gum lines, which can cause inflammation and infection.
. . .
As consumers, we can avoid products containing microbeads and put pressure on companies and governments to end their use (5 Gyres has an online petition). And, because more than a third of all plastic is disposable packaging, such as bags and bottles, we can and must limit our overall use, and reuse or recycle any that we do use.
Plastic has made life more convenient, but many of us remember a time when we got along fine without it.
http://www.straight.com/news/435136/dav ... -lifestyle
BartSimpson @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:42 am
It galls me but I agree with the SOB. There's no justifiable reason to use these things in soap when sand would do the same thing and not muck up everything.
Canadian_Mind @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:38 am
+3. Where do we sign?
martin14 @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:42 am
See, these are the things that Suzuki could have excelled at.
Easy for him to rally everyone, get some boycotts going in the stores, using his celebrity
to get the issue on tv,
and have it cleaned up in 3 weeks.
No more microbeads.... boom.
Instead, he had to go full shill.
Jabberwalker @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:10 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
It galls me but I agree with the SOB. There's no justifiable reason to use these things in soap when sand would do the same thing and not muck up everything.
I remember when soap scrubs had pumice mixed in with them for grit. You can't say that it's not naturally occurring ... and everywhere, already.
BeaverFever @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:41 pm
These things just need to be banned. Brother in Law is hydrological engineer. Says these things also clog up lines in sewage plants and create all kinds of plumbing problems.
2Cdo @ Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:44 pm
Not good for your septic field either.
DrCaleb @ Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:01 am
2Cdo 2Cdo:
Not good for your septic field either.
Yea, replacing that is not a fun job either.
2Cdo @ Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:01 am
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
2Cdo 2Cdo:
Not good for your septic field either.
Yea, replacing that is not a fun job either.
Not fun and definitely not cheap!
