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| Just "bead" it microbeads!!! |
Ahhh…You get up to wash your face every day – I hope – and use some of the most refreshing products on the market to get that extra-clean feeling. Men, as opposed to women, might use a plain old bar of soap, but I’m sure most of you indulge in those highfalutin cleansers with tiny colorful beads that “scrub excess oil and dirt from your pores."
Ahhh….LOVE that feeling of
tingling little beads that indicate they’re not just washing the dirt away – they’re
really getting IN THERE and scrubbing your skin to perfection! Those microbeads
aren’t just polishing your skin – they’re also clogging up the environment. Did
you know that? Did you know that all of those plastic beads, when washed down
the drain, are found in body washes, hand cleansers and even toothpastes? Did
you know that they pose a risk to fish and cause ecological damage no one could
ever imagine?
So…Who allowed these plastic
particles to be mixed into products in the first place? When companies included
micro-scrubbing beads in their products, didn’t they have to be FDA approved? I
mean, let’s get real, you’re using those soaps and scrubs on your face and
body! Is it really okay for us to use products on our skin with ingredients
that aren’t dissolvable? How much more effective are microbeads when it comes
to personal hygiene anyway?
I guess it doesn’t matter
that we’ve been lathering up with these tiny bubbles for as long as we can
remember – the damage is apparently done!
A few weeks ago, U.S. Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand announced a unanimous passage of a federal ban on products
containing plastic microbeads (Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015). Really? Is this something that in recent years came to
table – after such products have been on the market for over a decade? I’m
guessing it took this long to discover that hygiene products – containing those
beads that are tinier-than-a-bullet – pose a threat to our environment.
In an April 2015 report
released by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office, microbeads were
present in 74 percent of water samples taken from 34 municipal and private
treatment plants across New York State. They also said that 19 tons of plastic
beads wash down the drain each year and enter into our waterways. No, the
reportedly “age defying” plastic pellets aren’t big enough to be captured while
filtering through a wastewater plant.
Just think about it – and
think about how much of your hard-earned tax dollars actually went to the state
so that a study could be conducted on the amount of water that contains
microbeads!
They’re not spending money on
coming into our community to deal with ongoing flooding and they’re not
spending half as much as they should to permanently solve issues like
infrastructure and the deterioration of our roads – regardless of whether it’s
city or state funds that need to be used for improvements!
Someone needs to pass
legislation that makes it illegal to use sub-par materials when paving major
highways like the Belt Parkway, which they foolishly fill with what appears to
be coffee grinds! Hey – if microbeads have such a long life and aren’t
biodegradable, maybe they should take all the little beads they’ve collected
from our water supply and use THOSE to fill our endless potholes!
The state is still not doing
anything when it comes to safeguarding our waterfront communities. Have you seen
physical work actually being done –
construction-wise – to repair eroding shorelines that Hurricane Sandy destroyed
in Canarsie, Gerritsen Beach and other areas? With all of the money going to
the Coast Guard and ecological “studies” on rebuilding marshes and “making our
community more resilient” – what is physically being done right now to save our
lives and homes for the long-term?
But I digress…
We’re worried about facial
cleansers that are dangerous to the “long-term well-being” of the state. This captivating
bill’s already heading to the President’s desk so he can scribble his initials
and make our cleaning routines less bubblier than before!
I can understand if there was
one company that recently came out with a product containing microbeads – but they’re
hitting a slew of personal care items that should have been banned decades ago,
knowing that anything plastic that
goes down the drain doesn’t dissolve. DUH!
What’s next on the ban list –
facial scrubs that contain fruit? Oh the poor pulverized fruit!!
We’re simply joining the
dozens of other states – including California, where Gov. Jerry Brown recently
passed the same legislation – who are jumping on the beadless bandwagon.
Whether you use products with
plastic…pebbles…or even minerals to exfoliate those pores, your spa-like shower
experience is about to come to an end.
Unedited and unpublished 12-18-2015
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