A federal ban on tiny synthetic plastic spheres known as "microbeads" passed through Congress this week, following the lead of legislative action in several states including Connecticut.
Microbeads are small exfoliating balls found in some types of soap and personal care products. They're buoyant, sometimes colorful, and tiny enough to make their way unscathed through water treatment facilities.
That means when you wash soap with microbeads down the drain, the beads can work their way through the pipes and back into the water supply -- carrying with them harmful pollutants.
That's bad news for fish eating the beads -- and, potentially, for us, as the pollutants work their way back up the food chain.
If Obama signs the ban, it means manufacturers would cease making cosmetic products with plastic microbeads by July 2017. Distribution would end the following year.
The feds are following the example of several states including Connecticut, which banned plastic microbeads as one of many measures thrown into the state budgetimplementer this year.
Connecticut's actions are similar to the federal proposal, but the bill Obama's mulling over would actually enact the ban several months sooner.
