14 DAY TRIAL // Facial scrubs are great for the skin but, as it turns out, they aren't all that great for the environment. A study recently published in the journal Current Biology says that, currently, millions of tons of microplastics are present in the world's streams, seas and oceans.
Specialists say that these microplastics come either from facial scrubs and other similar cosmetics, or from larger plastic materials that break down in time and turn into myriads of plastic particles.
According to EcoWatch, it can also happen that synthetic fibers used to make clothes break down during washing, and that the resulting plastic particles work their way into aquatic ecosystems.
Microplastics are invisible to the naked eye, which is why some might suspect that, being as small as they are, they could not possibly constitute a threat to the environment.
Ecologists disagree, and say that, according to recent evidence, marine worms like to feast on these particles. The problem is that, the more microplastics they eat, the more of the toxins these particles contain accumulate in their body.
Since marine worms are at the bottom of the food chain, it is likely that species that feed on them will sooner or later be affected as well.
“For more than 40 years the bit that the scientists and policymakers didn’t have was whether these particles of plastic can actually transfer chemicals into wildlife and damage the health of the organism and its ability to sustain biodiversity,” specialist Mark Browne with the US-based National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis reportedly told the press.
Interestingly enough, the toxins found in microplastics are there because, as they float about in seas or oceans, these particles tend to suck up whatever chemical compounds they are exposed to. Thus, researchers have found that some contain traces of antimicrobials and even dyes.
Presently, the US does not consider microplastics to be a hazardous source of environmental pollution.
“We are losing a large volume of plastic and we know it is going into the environment and the assumption being made by policymakers is that this material is nonhazardous, it has got the same ranking as scraps of food,” Mark Browne explained.
In light of these findings, the researcher and his colleagues urge that lawmakers reconsider and move to limit the amount of microplastics that hit aquatic ecosystems on a yearly basis.