US gears up to ban microbeads from cosmetics

New bill in the US could ban microbeads, a major pollutant of marine life and the food chain, from personal care products and cosmetics.

A bill to ban the environmentally damaging plastic microbeads from cosmetics and personal care products has edged closer to becoming an Act. Although approved by the House of Representatives, the Senate is yet to give the go-ahead.

Smaller than pinheads, but a major threat to the ecology of the Great Lakes, microbeads are tiny plastic pieces that can be found in body washes, soap and even toothpaste.

These flow into water bodies, contaminating marine life and the food chain. Research conducted by various universities in the US found alarming levels of plastic particles flooding the Great Lakes.

Michigan’s Republican Representative and one of the sponsors of the bill, Fred Upton said: "These microbeads are tiny plastic, but make for big-time pollution."

Supervised by the Microbead Free Waters Act, phasing out of the dangerous contaminants is likely to begin on 1 July 2017, while banning microbead usage in cosmetics and medicines is likely to commence from 2018.

The first state to ban products containing microbeads was Illinois in 2014. Yet to be passed, California’s bill will phase out the contaminants by 2020.

Washington DC, New York and Connecticut are on their way to outlawing this ecological threat.

Canada has also geared up to follow its southern neighbours suit, while Holland, Belgium, Sweden and Austria had jointly called for an embargo on microplastic usage in cosmetics in 2014 itself.