Dubai: Slathering a gritty paste of body care products across your body as part of a daily hygiene regimen could be doing you and the environment more harm than good.
And chances are you don’t even know it.
The health risk to you and wildlife stems from so-called microbeads — extremely tiny plastic balls that cosmetic firms inject into personal care items which act as abrasive scrubbers for more effective product performance, say experts.
Tiny plastic balls are in countless facial scrubs and shower gels for sale on shelves across the UAE — a random sampling by Gulf News online and in department stores revealed that a variety of skincare products containing microbeads are being sold but were properly labelled as containing microbeads.
The beads may number in the thousands in only one tube of product.
Readily available across one of the largest consumer product markets, untold trillions of microplastics are being flushed daily worldwide from showers, bathtubs and sinks and are not only exposing human skin to polyethylene plastic products but are also finding their way through household wastewater systems into rivers and oceans, say experts.
The microbeads do not break down in the environment and may absorb pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals that may leach into the food chain and ultimately land on the dinner tables of humans.
In early July, the American state of Wisconsin banned microbeads, bringing the number of states where the material is illegal to a total of seven.
Habiba Al Marashi, founder and chairwoman of Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), said in an interview with Gulf News that her non-governmental organisation is concerned about the impact of microbeads on human health in the UAE.
The EEG is looking towards education awareness campaigns as well as further research on the ecological impact in the UAE from microbeads through governmental, academic and corporate partnerships.
The issue is serious, she said, given that the UAE’s eight million residents support one of the largest cosmetic consumer markets in the Middle East through the purchase of a wide variety of body care products.
An underlying concern is that consumers aren’t necessarily aware that the health-care products they are buying contain ingredients that are not the best choice when it comes to health and sustainability.
Helping consumers educate themselves is the key to healthier outcomes.
“There is a huge need for raising awareness for individuals at all levels,” said Habiba. “We start them at schools. This is very basic education.”
Despite growing studies and evidence indicating that microbead litter is spreading on ocean and lake beds around the world, Habiba said it is difficult to gauge the extent of the problem here given little or no research has been done on the topic.
“We don’t know, we don’t have the research yet in this region. This is an issue that really concerns the general public,” Habiba said.
Products sold in the UAE that contain microbeads should be properly labelled to enable customers to make informed choices about their own health and that of the environment around them, she said.
As awareness grows about microbeads, Habiba said, “there will be pressure from the consumer for better products to enter the markets. There will be more stringent specifications for products sourced from international markets”.
World Wildlife Fund officials are also joining a growing chorus of opposition against microbeads through direct action initiatives that send a clear message to consumers.
David Miller, President and CEO of WWF-Canada, praised efforts by some retailers and manufacturers to stem the flow of microplastics into the environment by halting the use of the beads in products.
For example, Miller praised household and cosmetic producer Loblaw — a Canadian grocery chain — which announced it will stop using microbeads in any products that it manufacturers by 2018.
“Plastic pollution has an incalculably serious effect on our environment,” said Miller. ”This litter can distribute toxic chemicals and harm animals if they ingest pieces of plastic or become entangled in the debris.”
“Bans on single-use plastics and microplastics in products like cosmetics and toothpaste are one of the important solutions toward protecting the Earth’s water — both salty and fresh,” said Miller.
According to WWF-Canada, microbeads “are so small that they slip right through our water treatment systems and end up back in our rivers and lakes and oceans. In 2013, researchers working in the Great Lakes reported 1,500 to 1.7 million plastic particles per square mile (2.5 square kilometres), with the highest concentration in Lake Erie. In addition to accumulating in the stomach, microbeads can cause liver toxicity and damage to the digestive tract”.
WWF-Canada says that “Unesco estimates that plastic pollution in our oceans kill an estimated 100,000 marine mammals and one million sea birds annually. And another 2015 report shows that around eight million tonnes of plastic is dumped in the world’s oceans annually”.
According to Beat the Microbead, an international campaign against microbeads in cosmetics, abrasive materials once used in personal care products were organic in nature but that has changed as mass production in factories use more plastics.
The campaign comprises 77 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in 33 countries and has been pushing the cosmetic industry to halt microbead practices for several years.
Some major multinationals are complying and have pledged publicly to phase out microbeads in their personal products. Other companies have made no such commitment.
“Over the years, microbeads have replaced traditional, biodegradable alternatives such as groundnut shells, and salt crystals,” said Beat the Microbead officials. “The microbeads used in personal care products are mainly made of polyethylene (PE), but can be also be made of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and nylon. Where products are washed down the drain after use, microbeads flow through sewer systems around the world before making their way into rivers and canals and, ultimately, straight into the seas and oceans, where they contribute to the plastic soup. Typically, microplastics are defined as plastic pieces or fibres measuring less than 5mm. The microbeads found in personal care products are almost always smaller than 1mm.”
According to Beat the Microbead, “hundreds, if not thousands, of different personal care products use microbeads as abrasive scrubbers and for cleansing purposes. In 2009, Fendall and Sewell (University of Auckland) published their observations that microbeads pass into household waste water streams directly and are too small to be retained by the standard filters used at sewage treatment plants and therefore enter the marine environment. Not only do they enter the sea, they can also enter the food chain”.
The organisation said that “although the full extent and consequences is hard to quantify, the accumulation of plastic, including microplastics, in the marine environment is today recognised as a serious, global environmental issue. As scientists and policymakers alike start to question the full extent of the problem in terms of impacts to marine biodiversity and associated implications for human health, the number of research programmes studying microplastics is increasing consequentially”.
