14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear that the state of New York in the United States has its mind set on improving on its ecological footprint, and it plans to do so not just by investing heavily in harvesting renewables, but also by banning the sale of certain beauty and cosmetic products.
Not to beat about the bush, it was earlier this week when the current New York Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, introduced the public to the Microbead-Free Waters Act.
More precisely, he proposed that the state of New York ban the sale of cosmetics and beauty products containing very small bits and pieces of plastic in stores and supermarkets across its territory.
Eco Watch tells us that these minuscule plastic fragments are added to said products in order to help with skin exfoliation.
The problem is that sooner or later they work their way into the environment, and therefore constitute a threat to natural ecosystems.
The fact that toxic chemical compounds build up on their surface over the years makes them even more dangerous, specialists say.
What's more, studies have shown that it takes centuries for microbeads to be naturally destroyed after their entering a given natural ecosystem.
“Plastic pollution is insidious – it doesn’t degrade like natural materials and persists for decades, if not centuries in our environment,” says Roger Downs with the Sierra Club.
Until now, cosmetics and beauty companies have proven quite reluctant to the idea of phasing out the use of microbeads.
However, a ban on the sale of products containing such pieces of plastic might be just the right thing to get them to change their mind.
If approved, New York's proposed ban on microbeads would be the first of its kind to have even been implemented in the United States.
Environmentalists who whole-heartedly support this initiative have expressed their hope that the Microbead-Free Waters Act will be given the thumbs up, and that other similar pieces of legislation will shortly follow.
As Roger Downs puts it, “New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has set the bar on holding the beauty products industry accountable, and we urge other states around [the] Great Lakes basin and across the country to follow New York’s leadership.”