Federal legislation would ban microplastics in personal care products

BUFFALO – A New York U.S. senator recently introduced legislation to ban tiny plastic particles in personal care products. These plastic microbeads are found in products like facial scrubs, body washes, hand cleansers and toothpastes. They are too small to be caught by wastewater treatment plants so they end up in large bodies of water like the Great Lakes. Illinois has already banned plastic microbeads in consumer products and similar legislation is being considered in New York, Ohio and California. The plastics concentrate toxins that would normally settle in sediment at the bottom of the lake.