“Wash your hands!”, “Brush your teeth!” For however long you’ve been living with your parents or guardians, those two phrases are used, it seems, an infinite amount of times. But what if I told you both of these daily activities could cause significant damage to marine life in our oceans.

By no means are marine biologists telling people to stop brushing their teeth. However, they are warning people that some brands of toothpaste have a potentially toxic ingredients that few people are aware of. This toxic ingredients is referred to as ‘microbeads’. The reason these microbeads can be so toxic to our oceans is because they aren’t biodegradable. Essentially, that means that instead of dissolving into the ecosystem, they are unable to be broken down by bacteria in the environment and are in turn, a threat to life in these ecosystems(Oxford). To make matters worse, there are “roughly 19 tons of microbeads (that) wash down the drain in New York every year.”(Think Progress)

Picture found on Greatist website

Along with toothpaste, microbeads can be found in countless numbers of personal care and beauty products(here is a full list of all known products that contain microbeads) and the effect can be quite deadly. According to Rachel Abrams of New York Times, “the effect is similar to grinding up plastic water bottles… and pumping them into oceans and lakes.” Furthermore, since microbeads are small enough to be ingested by fish and other marine life, they can cause more pollutants to be brought into the ecosystem.

To be clear, there is a causal relationship between microbeads(and other plastic items) going through the drain systems of major cities, into the ocean, and the deterioration of the Earth’s oceans. According to Professor Richard Thompson of University of Plymouth, who conducted a study in 2009 to determine if microbeads did damage to marine life, he stated, “concerns about usage and disposal are diverse and include accumulation of waste in landfills and in natural habitats, physical problems for wildlife resulting from ingestion or entanglement in plastic, the leaching of chemicals from plastic products and the potential for plastics to transfer chemicals to wildlife and humans.”(NBCI) Furthermore, according to a CNN article about ‘plastic micro beads’, they are very small particles that can get lodged into the vertebrate of marine animals, which causes major problems for these animals. For example, Thompson found that these particles once were stuck in mussels for 48 whole days. This is a problem that will continue to get worse if it is not dealt with. However, keep reading and you will find some signs of hope.

Signs of Progress

One state was the first to take significant action to stop the effects of these tiny plastic beads. That state was Illinois and their Governor had some strong beliefs on why they are damaging. According to Gov. Pat Quinn(D-Illinois), “Banning microbeads will help ensure clean waters across Illinois and set an example for our nation to follow.” If you would like to read the rest of Gov. Quinn’s statement and see some of the actions Illinois has taken to curb the effects of microbeads, click here.  Along with Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Colorado and California all passed laws banning these microbeads, with California being the most recent to pass the law in May of 2015. Even though these microbeads have caused major damage to marine life, there is positive action being taken by legislature to curb microbeads being used in personal care products.(Allure) Their is sufficient evidence that these plastic beads cause animals life-long problems, now it is up to state legislatures to ban these deadly particles from all personal care products.