Microbeads are tiny plastic additives manufacturers of some cosmetic products added for their supposed abrasive action. The problem is that they are too small to be captured by water treatment systems after their use so they go down the drain and enter our waterways. They are building up in bodies of water everywhere and entering the foodstream when fish ingest them. They also have the ability to concentrate toxins within them. There are natural products like shells that could be ground up and used in these products instead.

Two states have banned the sale of microbead products so far, Illinois and Colorado. Progress is being made in other states and in Europe as well, but the progress (and red tape) is slow. Illinois was the first to ban microbeads after they discovered that the plastic beads were building up in the Great Lakes. Erie County in New York state has also banned microbeads and all products containing them must be off the shelf within six months (March 2016). Unfortunately, even the statewide bans don't take effect for two to four more years, which is unacceptable when you consider how much more plastic waste will build up in that time.

It is up to us to make a change. We must immediately stop using and buying products containing microbeads. At the same time we must pressure our local, state and federal governments everywhere to ban microbeads. We need to tell manufacturers to stop manufacturing products that have microbeads in them. We need to tell retailers not to carry products that contain microbeads because they are harmful to the environment and we won't buy them. Thank you and together we can protect the environment.