MICROBEADS & MICROPLASTICS: LAWS WITHOUT DUE...

MICROBEADS & MICROPLASTICS: LAWS WITHOUT DUE DILIGENCE?

ROBERT Y. LOCHHEAD

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

• IN 2011, THE DUTCH NGO, THE NORTH SEA FOUNDATION,

• REQUESTED COMPANIES STOP USING MICROBEADS IN THEIR PRODUCTS.

• COMPANIES REPLIED

• PRODUCTS MET STRICT SAFETY STANDARDS,

• MICROBEADS WERE SAFE FOR CONSUMER USE,

• MICROPLASTICS IN OCEANS COME FROM DEGRADATION OF LARGER PLASTIC DEBRIS, ETC.

• 2012:

• THE PLASTIC SOUP FOUNDATION/NORTH SEA FOUNDATION LAUNCHED THE “BEAT THE MICROBEAD” CAMPAIGN

May 5, 2016 PCPC Legl Conference, Nashville 2

“BEAT THE MICROBEAD” INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN

http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/history

Acknowledgement: Todd Gouin.

• PROPOSED PROBLEM: THE MICROBEADS IN COSMETIC PRODUCTS SUCH AS FACIAL SCRUBS

ARE FLOWING FROM THE BATHROOM DRAIN INTO THE SEWER SYSTEM.

• WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO FILTER OUT MICROBEADS SO THEREFORE

THEY TRAVEL TO THE WORLD’S OCEANS WHERE SEA CREATURES EAT MICROBEADS.

• SINCE THE MARINE LIFE EAT THE MICROBEADS AND WE EAT THE MARINE LIFE, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY

THAT WE ARE ALSO ABSORBING MICROBEADS FROM THE FOOD WE EAT.


“BEAT THE MICROBEAD” INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN (SUMMARY)

Acknowledgement: Todd Gouin.

RECENT ACTIVITY IN CONGRESS wrt COSMETICS

• H.R.4075 - COSMETIC MODERNIZATION AMENDMENTS OF 2015

• H.R.1321 - MICROBEAD-FREE WATERS ACT OF 2015

• H.R.4148 - HUMANE COSMETICS ACT

• H.R.1385 - SAFE COSMETICS AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS ACT OF 2013

• S.1014 - PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS SAFETY ACT

• H.R. 4395 - COSMETIC SAFETY AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2012

H.R.1321 - Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015




BANNING PLASTIC MICROBEADS

May 5, 2016 7

IL

6/

2014

ME

3/2015 NY

2014

NJ

3/2015

CO

3/2015

IN

3/

2015

MD

5/2015

PCPC Legl Conference, Nashville

CT

6/2015 WI

7/

2015

CA

10/

2015






DOUGHTY AND ERIKSEN, TULANE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL 27, 277, (SUMMER 2014)

MICROPLASTICS POLUTION: THE CASE FOR A BAN ON MICROPLASTICS IN PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS

• MICROPLASTICS FORM:

• ON LAND

• BY UV DEGRADATION, FRAGMENTATION AND ROAD ABRASION OF LARGER PLASTIC ARTICLES

• MAY ENTER THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT THROUGH DIRECT RELEASE

• TEXTILE LAUNDERING MAY PRODUCE MICROFIBERS

• MICROPLASTICS FROM SANDBLASTING MEDIA

• MICROBEADS IN COSMETICS SUCH AS FACIAL CLEANSERS AND TOOTHPASTES

• “BY DESIGN PLASTIC MICROBEADS ARE MEANT TO BE DISCARDED IN HOUSEHOLD WATER”

• ‘IN MANY CASES THEY ESCAPE CAPTURE BY MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS”

• (REF TO FENDELL AND SEWELL, MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 1225, 58, 2009)



MICROBEAD MYTHS?

• PLASTIC MICROBEADS FROM COSMETICS ARE A SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF POLLUTION

• WASTEWATER TREATMENTS ARE INCAPABLE OF CAPTURING PLASTIC MICROBEADS



WHAT DID FENDELL AND SEWELL DO?


WHAT DID THE ARTICLE REALLY SAY?





1.1 to 1.8 particle per 1,000 liters



• Found 43,000 particles /square kilometer

• That corresponds to about 1 particle in 250,000 liters Doughty and Eriksen ( Tulane Law Review,… “Microbeads may enter

waterways through drainage systems or “combined sewage overflow”

events allowing raw sewage to enter local waterways untreated”

MICROBEAD MYTHS?



• PLASTIC MICROBEADS ARE DANGEROUS TO AQUATIC LIFE BECAUSE

• THEY ABSORB PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS WHICH TRANSFER TO HUMANS THROUGH THE

FOOD CHAIN

• THEY BLOCK INTESTINES AND KILL A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF MARINE CREATURES



approximately 1 billion more algae particles than

microplastics in every liter of lake water The stomachs of fish caught from Lake Erie and Lake Huron

(where high levels of microplastics were reported) contained

no microbeads.

DOUGHTY AND ERIKSEN, TULANE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL 27, 277, (SUMMER 2014)

MICROPLASTICS POLUTION: THE CASE FOR A BAN ON MICROPLASTICS IN PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS

• “MICROPLASTICS IN THE ENVIRONMENT MAY HAVE DELETERIOUS EFFECTS ON WILDLIFE.

• MANY KINDS OF PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS SORB ONTO PLASTIC

• WHICH IN SOME CASES IMPACT MARINE ORGANISMS’ ABILITY TO FUNCTION AND PROCREATE”



May 5, 2016

PCPC Legl Conference, Nashville

28


INGESTION OF MICROPLASTICS


TROPHIC TRANSER

May 5, 2016 PCPC Legl Conference, Nashville

• In their investigations into the presence of micro-plastic in seven

common North Sea fish, Foekema et al. (2013), did not observe the

presence of any particles <300µm, implying limited potential for micro-

plastic <100µm to accumulate as they move up the food web.

• This is consistent with results reported by Choy and Drazen (2013), who

do not report any particles <4mm in pelagic predatory fish collected in

the central North Pacific.

31




the relative importance of microplastic as a vector of PBT substances to

biological organisms is likely of limited importance, relative to other exposure

pathways. Nevertheless, a number of data-gaps are

identified, largely associated with improving our understanding of the

physical fate of microplastic in the environment. 34


The POPs present in sea water are slowly absorbed and concentrated in the

microplastic fragments. Plastics debris does ‘clean’ the sea water of the

dissolved pollutant chemicals. On being ingested, however, these can become

bioavailable to the organisms (Endo et al., 2005).

35


MICROBEAD MYTHS?



• PLASTIC MICROBEADS ARE DANGEROUS TO AQUATIC LIFE BECAUSE

• THEY ABSORB PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS WHICH TRANSFER TO HUMANS THROUGH THE

FOOD CHAIN

• THEY BLOCK INTESTINES AND KILL A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF MARINE CREATURES

• PLASTIC MICROBEADS LAST HUNDREDS OF YEARS IN THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT


MARPOL ANNEX V PROHIBITS SHIPS FROM DUMPING OF PLASTICS IN THE OCEAN


450 YEARS REPEATED…..


What was the origin

of these numbers?

39

THE IMO POINTED ME TO THE GREEK POSTER SOURCE


,,,,but no-one

could tell me

how these

numbers were

calculated

40

DURABILITY OF PLASTICS AT SEA ( AZZARELLO ET AL, MARINE ECOLOGY PROG: 37, 295-303, 1987

• HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE IS PHOTO DEGRADABLE:

• EMBRITTLEMENT AND FRAGMENTATION OCCURS WITHIN 2 TO 3 YEARS AT THE SEA SURFACE

• CAN BE ACCELERATED TO THREE MONTHS IF ALL ULTRAVIOLET STABILIZERS ARE EXCLUDED (DIXON AND

DIXON, 1981)

• WEHLE, H. S., COLEMAN, F. C. (1983). PLASTICS AT SEA. NATURAL HISTORY, 92, (1983) 20-26;

SUGGEST THAT FISHING NETS COULD SURVIVE 50 YEARS IN THE SUBMERGED CONDITION.

• DURABILITY OF PLASTIC PELLETS IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT UNCERTAIN BUT THEY SEEM TO LAST

3-10 YEARS [DERRAIK, MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2002]


There is a need to accurately determine the

lifetime of plastics in the Marine Environment 41

PET BOTTLES DEGRADE IN SEA AFTER 15 YEARS

The degradation potential of PET bottles

in the marine environment: An ATR-FTIR

based approach

C. Ioakeimidis, K. N. Fotopoulou, H. K.

Karapanagioti, M. Geraga, C. Zeri, E.

Papathanassiou, F. Galgani & G.

Papatheodorou

Scientific Reports 6,

Article number: 23501

Published online 22 March, 2016 May 5, 2016 PCPC Legl Conference, Nashville 42

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep23501#auth-1























CONCLUSIONS

• THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE DOES NOT PROVIDE EVIDENCE THAT MICROPLASTIC SPHERES FROM

SCRUBBERS AND COSMETICS CAN ESCAPE PROPERLY MANAGED SEWAGE SYSTEMS

• THERE IS UNCERTAINTY ON WHETHER PLASTIC MICROPARTICLES DAMAGE THE MARINE

ECOLOGY

• THERE IS UNCERTAINTY ON WHETHER PLASTIC PARTICLES ARE BIOMAGNIFIED BY TROPHIC

TRANSFER

• THE MAJOR COSMETIC PLAYERS HAVE ALL PLEDGED TO DILIGENTLY REMOVE PLASTIC

MICROPARTICLES FROM THEIR FORMULATIONS

• PLASTICS ARE POLYMERS, BUT NOT ALL POLYMERS ARE PLASTICS

• APART FROM A FEW EXCEPTIONS, SUCH AS SCRUBBERS, THE POLYMERIC INGREDIENTS OF COSMETIC

FORMULATION ARE NOT PLASTICS.


GOING FORWARD……..

• REALIZE THAT “BEAT THE BEADS’ CAMPAIGN WAS MULTINATIONAL

• SCARE TACTICS FOR POTENTIAL HAZARDS

• RATHER THAN A BALANCED RISK/BENEFIT ANALYSIS

• PART OF A LARGER STRATEGY TO PRISE OPEN THE DOOR?

• NEED A CONCERTED EFFORT TO INFORM THE LAY PUBLIC ON THE SCIENCE AND SAFETY BEHIND COSMETICS

• REALISTIC RISK/BENEFIT FACTORS

• CRADLE-TO-CRADLE ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP FOR INGREDIENTS SUPPLIERS

• SIMULTANEOUSLY EDUCATE THE CONSUMER

• ENCOURAGE DUE DILIGENCE IN LAW MAKING

• CONSIDER THE EVIDENCE



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