Canada’s CEPA Adds Microbeads to Toxic Substance List
July 12, 2016
The Canadian government recently added microbeads to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act’s (CEPA) list of toxic substances. Microbeads are the tiny spheres of plastic in hygiene products such as facial or body wash used to exfoliate skin.
Microbeads on their own seem innocuous, but the consequences of their disposal make them incredibly damaging. Because of their size, microbeads can often go undetected in water treatment plants lacking the technology to filter very small particles, resulting in plastic-polluted waters and a harmful environment for inhabitants. According to an article published by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, the concern is not the beads themselves, but rather that harmful chemicals adhere to the plastic particles making them toxic. This can lead to further risk for marine animals that consume the beads, as well as creatures higher up on the food chain including humans. According to a 2014 study of the Great Lakes, researchers found that these bodies of water were contaminated with an average of 43,000 microplastic particles per square kilometer, and up to 466,000 per square kilometer near cities.
Several states in the US, including Illinois, Wisconsin, and New Jersey, began instituting bans on the sale and manufacture of microbeads a few years ago. The federal government soon followed suit and passed the Microbead-Free Waters Act 2015, which requires manufacturers to stop producing products with microbeads by 2017.
