Have you ever thought that every time you use a facewash or a cosmetic product that its makers promise to be more effective due to presence of microbeads, you may be causing irreparable damage to the environment.
Many personal care products like soaps, facial scrubs and toothpastes etc. contain microplastics or microbeads that can pass unfiltered through the sewage treatment plants and make their way into rivers and canals, resulting in plastic particle water pollution that can wreak havoc on marine life.
As World Environment Day is being celebrated across the globe with Beat Plastic Pollution' being the theme this year, experts are calling for effective implementation of the ban on use of microbeads in cosmetic products as they claim that many such products are readily available in the market and are being used by consumers, who are unaware of their ill-effects.
Bharati Chaturvedi, director of Chintan Environmental and Research Action Group, is among those have advocated barring of personal care products which contain microbeads.
"Personal care products have microbeads. These are small plastic particles which are drained down the river and ultimately reach the sea. These particles are swallowed by fishes which slowly get accumulated in their digestive tract leading to their death and ultimately affects the marine ecosystem.
"There should be a complete ban on microplastics. We all know which items and brands contain such particles. There should be swift and timely action to stop the harm that is likely to be caused to the environment," Chaturvedi said.
Recently a petition was also filed by Delhi-based lawyer Ashwini Kumar seeking complete ban on the use of microbeads in the manufacture, import and sale of various cosmetics or personal care products.
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Heeding to his plea, the National Green Tribunal had last year directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to issue a notification classifying microbeads as "unsafe" for use in cosmetic products.
Advocate Sumeer Sodhi, who argued for Kumar in the NGT, said microbeads have macro environmental impact and studies across the globe have shown that tiny particles of plastics have already entered our food chain.
"This is what forced us to move the court for immediate stopping of this easily avoidable environmental hazard.
"It is perhaps because of NGT's proactive persuasion that the government decided to prohibit the use of microplastics in cosmetics by bringing about an amendment to the already existing list of raw materials not considered safe for use in cosmetics (IS 4707-partII) but the real test would be to see if the enforcement agencies would be able to ensure its compliance," Sodhi said.
Environmental activist Vikrant Tongad also expressed concern over the threat posed by the microbeads to the rivers like Ganga and Yamuna.
He said that Yamuna, which is already polluted with industrial and domestic effluents, is finding it difficult to maintain its ecosystem as there are hardly any fishes left in the river.
"Innumerous drains carry sewage and other waste in the river. This has ruined the aquatic life in Yamuna. Microbeads also get washed away in the water body which worsens the problem.
"The Health Ministry has issued the notification saying that plastic microbeads which are "5 mm or less, water insoluble, solid plastic particle used to exfoliate or cleanse in a rinse-off personal care products", as unsafe for use. It is for the authorities to ensure compliance so that environment is maintained in its natural form," he said.
Recently, NGO Toxics Link had also carried out a study titled "Eco Personal Care Product, Microplastics in Cosmetics", to investigate the presence of microbeads in personal care and cosmetic products (PCCP) available and sold in India.
Different categories of rinse-off and live-on cosmetic products of varied leading brands were tested for microplastics in the study which found that 28 per cent of all the tested products contained microplastics.
"50 per cent of the facewash products and 67 per cent of the facial scrubs are found to contain microplastics. Predominating microplastics detected in the product samples is polyethylene," the NGO had said.