Beware the Microbead
Brookline, MA
2016, Senior, Creative Writing
“Hey Anna, can we stop quickly at CVS on our way home? I need some more deodorant,” my sister says.
“Yeah sure,” I reluctantly agree. I know there’s no such thing as a quick stop at CVS; as soon as we walk in, we see a million things we need.
My sister runs to the deodorant aisle and suddenly I remember we’re out of toothpaste. We make laps around the store, grabbing things off the shelves as we’re reminded of things we need to restock. Eventually my sister makes her way to the makeup aisle and I find her looking at face wash.
“Do you know if this one’s good?” my sister asks me, holding up a Neutrogena™ bottle.
“No! Don’t use that one!” I yell. “That has microbeads in it; do you even know what those can do once they go down the drain?” My sister looks at me, baffled. I had learned the harmful effects of microplastics in my environmental science class, but my sister was completely oblivious.
Hundreds of face and body cleansers use microbeads to function as exfoliants including popular brands such as Clean & Clear™, which has eight products containing microbeads, Rite Aid™ with seven, and Neutrogena™ with 22 products. Even Crest, one of the most commonly used toothpastes, contains microbeads. These brands are some of the most frequently purchased as they are often advertised by famous celebrities on TV. Unfortunately, most consumers don’t even know what microbeads are and thus, blindly contribute to the harm they cause to our oceans.
Microbeads are made out of polyethylene and polypropylene plastics. Once cleansers with microbeads go down the drain they make their way to a sewage treatment plant. The first part of sewage treatment is called primary treatment where the large plastics are filtered out. However, microplastics are so small they can get past the screens in primary sewage treatment and make it into the ocean. Once in the ocean they can be carried for thousands of miles from their source by ocean currents called gyres. In this way microbeads and other plastics can spread to all parts of the ocean and remain there as they do not biodegrade.
Microplastics are plastics that are less than five millimeters in diameter. Microbeads are a form of microplastic called primary microplastics, meaning they are produced by humans to be of microscopic size on purpose. Microplastics can also form from larger plastics being broken down by sand, wind, and water into nanoparticles. Once plastics become this small, they are almost impossible to clean up and marine organisms can easily ingest them. Polyethylene is not very dense and therefore ends up floating on the ocean surface. Small organisms at the base of the food chain such as plankton can mistake microbeads and other microplastics for food. Once plankton have the plastic in their system, it can bioaccumulate in all the organisms above them in the food chain. An experiment done by scientists at the University of Plymouth revealed there has been an increase in the abundance of plastics in plankton since the 1960s. This is evidence that the amount of microbeads and other plastic litter in the ocean has increased over the years, posing a larger threat to marine organisms. If humans continue to dump trash into the ocean, soon all of its living organisms will be full of plastic.
Ingesting microplastics can have detrimental effects on marine organisms and eventually humans as well. Eating microplastics causes small organisms to consume less food due to satiation, which is the feeling of being full. This leads to starvation and intestinal blockage in these organisms. This will affect the marine organisms in higher trophic levels as the populations of their prey will decline. Microbeads can also have harmful chemical effects; as a piece of plastic decreases in size, the chemical effects it can have on organisms increases. Microplastics can release toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing of them as well as PBTs (persistent, bioaccumulating, and toxic substances) that they have absorbed in the water. If an organism ingests such microplastics, their body will undergo the harm these chemicals can do. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are common chemicals used in the manufacturing of plastics. PCBs are persistent in the environment and biomagnify in food chains. They have been found in whale blubber and marine mammals as well as fish. By the time they reach these high trophic-level organisms, the chemicals will be more concentrated and their effects become more fatal. This means even if the small organisms who ingest microplastics survive, organisms above them in the food chain may not. For this reason, humans are also at risk for being harmed by microplastics. For example, if someone goes to a restaurant and orders fish, they might be encounter health problems due to plastic that has accumulated in their food. A study done by Christina M. Boerger et al. on plastic in the guts of planktivorous fish dissected and counted the amount of microplastic they have consumed. The experiment found a total of 1,375 pieces of plastic inside the fish ranging from 1 to 83 pieces per fish. With such a great amount of plastic residing in fish, larger organisms who feed on them, including humans, are doomed to suffer the effects of microplastics and their chemicals.
PCBs and other chemicals that come out of microplastics can have damaging and sometimes lethal effects on the bodies of marine organisms. PCBs are carcinogenic and teratogenic, meaning they can cause both cancer and birth defects in organisms (Castro et al. 2010). Many are endocrine disruptors as well, mimicking hormones and causing hormonal defects such as male frogs developing female eggs (Friedland 2012). If low trophic level organisms such as plankton experience population declines due to death by these toxins, all the organisms above them in the food chain will follow similar patterns as their food resources diminish. However, if those organisms suffer birth or hormonal defects, the evolution of their populations could be greatly altered as well. If animals evolve with altered genes, new species may be introduced into food chains. The negative side of this is that new species might outcompete other organisms and cause them to go extinct. Whether the PBTs, like PCBs, in microplastics kill the organism who ingests it from the start or do other bodily damage, people who use cleansers with microbeads are contributing to the harm of marine food chains.
After hearing my spiel, my sister stands staring at me with a look of shame on her face.
“I had no idea these tiny microbeads could do so much damage. What can I do to help?” my sister asks.
“There are plenty of companies that use alternative exfoliants – you can choose a face wash from one of those to use,” I tell her.
Recently microbeads have replaced natural exfoliants such as apricot or walnut husks, increasing the number of people using cleansers with microplastics. However, some brands are conscious of the effects of microbeads and therefore stick to using all natural ingredients.
“Biore™, Philosophy™, Elizabeth Arden™, St. Ives ™, and Lush™ are all brands that use natural exfoliants and they work just as well as the other products you were looking at before,” I tell my sister. “Trust I’ve used them and my skin looks great.”
Luckily, states in the U.S. have started to become aware of the negative impacts microbeads have on the environment. Illinois has banned microbeads, and other states such as New York and Ohio are working on doing the same. Skincare companies such as L’Oreal™ are planning on taking out microbeads from the products, and other companies already have made the switch. To help the problem, people should check the labels on the back of their face and body cleansers for the ingredient “polyethylene” to ensure they won’t be releasing plastic into the ocean when taking a shower. There is also a complete list of brands and products that contain microbeads on www.adventurescience.org that people can check so they can know what products not to buy. Companies that use natural exfoliators have come up with some creative alternative, which in my opinion work even better than microbeads.
“St. Ives™ uses peach pits to exfoliate your skin, and you know that shower scrub you have from Lush? That has crystals of sea salt to do the same thing,” I inform my sister.
“I love that stuff! I can’t believe I’ve been using anything besides that. Can we go to Lush™ next weekend to get skincare products from there instead?”
“Of course!” I say, excited rather than irritated this time.
Ever since I learned about the harmful effects of microbeads on the ocean I cringed at the thought of them going down the drain. My sister and I only buy brands with natural exfoliants now and it has put both my skin and my conscience at peace. If everyone just switched to products with natural exfoliants, they could help the environment and have great skin at the same time!
Reflection
When thinking about all the pollutants that harm our ocean, it is nearly impossible to pick out the most important. In my AP Environmental Science class this year we’ve learned about dozens of sources of contaminants that leech into our waters, but one day my teacher casually mentioned the microbeads that are in facial cleansers. Although this was merely an isolated example, it stuck with me because my shower is filled with those very cleansers. As I began to do research on microbeads I was baffled by how much damage those tiny little balls could do to marine organisms and food chains. After receiving this information I was mad at myself for being so ignorant and contributing to the problem of microplastics in our ocean. I always preach to my friends and family about how to help our environment but I didn’t realize that the body washes I was using made me a hypocrite. Luckily, in my research I found an abundance of products that use natural exfoliants and have vowed to switch to only those. I also became aware of the key ingredient in microbeads (Polyethylene) so I can check product labels to ensure they’re safe to use. This process has helped me make a change in my life which, although it’s small, will help reduce plastic pollution. This personal story/informative essay is meant to educate others on the harm microbeads can do in the ocean and encourage them to switch to natural exfoliators as I have.