President Obama Signs Bill to Ban Beauty Products That Are Polluting Earth

Check your beauty products because some face washes, toothpastes and shampoos are being phased out due to pollutants that has led President Obama to sign into law a bill phasing out these products that are affecting or oceans and wildlife.

Earlier this year, California enacted the Microbead-Free Waters Act (H.R. 1321) which bans all plastic microbeads from beauty products, including “biodegradable plastics”, most of which do not biodegrade in marine environments. Now, President Obama, along with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, have unanimously approved the new bill that will ban the sale of beauty products by July 1, 2018.

Plastic microbeads which are designed to be washed down the drain and too small to be captured by wastewater treatment facilities actually do more harm by polluting lakes, rivers and oceans. Once in the environment, these plastic microbeads concentrate toxins such as pesticides and flame retardants on their surface, which may then transfer to the tissue of fish that mistake microbeads for food. A recent study found that one quarter of fish purchased in California markets had ingested plastic.

Keep this in mind, one tube of exfoliating face wash can contain more than 350,000 microbeads, and it’s estimated that 2.9 trillion microbeads enter U.S. waterways annually.

See which beauty products are causing harm to our environment.