I went to see the dentist over winter break, and I am proud to say that I am cavity-free. However, while Pam, my dental hygienist, was cleaning my teeth, she noticed something unsavory. Before revealing her discovery, Pam asked me what kind of toothpaste I had been using recently. “Crest 3-D White,” I boasted proudly. “Can you tell?” Pam nodded her head solemnly, indicating that she was not, to my disappointment, setting me up for a compliment on my pearly whites. Instead, she grabbed a magnifying hand mirror and replied, “I want you to see this.” Not a good sign. Holding the mirror so that I could see the inside of my mouth, she pointed out a handful of tiny, blue dots speckled on my teeth and gums. Pam explained, to my dismay, that the specks were little pieces of plastic, commonly found in Crest toothpaste. Needless to say, I’ve switched brands.
I asked my dentist about the microbeads, and what effect they might have on my health. He informed me that they get caught in the crevices of our teeth and gums, where they serve as shelters for stowaway toxins and bacteria. I left his office feeling betrayed. The product that I thought was helping to whiten my teeth was actually filling my mouth with objectionable, cavity-promoting plastic. When I got home I did some research, and I learned that the unwanted plastic spheres were polluting more than just my mouth.
As it turns out, polyethylene microbeads are found in a plethora of personal care products, including face scrubs, cleansers, exfoliators, acne creams, body washes, mouth washes and, of course, toothpaste. A single tube of Clean and Clear face wash can contain upwards of 330,000 microbeads! Most of which are inevitably washed down our drains and dumped into our water supply. Too small to be filtered out by municipal water treatment facilities, they absorb toxic pollutants like PCBs, pesticides and even motor oil, before they are flushed into our lakes, streams, rivers and in some cases, the ocean. Fish and other marine life frequently mistake the non-biodegradable microbeads for food, which can cause lethal blockages in their stomachs. When we eat fish that contain microbeads, the plastic can bioaccumulate in our body tissue. Although the FDA has said that microbeads are perfectly benign, I do not want toxin-harboring plastic spheres nestled in my tissues. Unsurprisingly, many people seem to agree with me on this.
In 2013, the 5 Gyres Institute conducted a survey that revealed a surprising amount of plastic microbeads in the Great Lakes, leading to vehement public outcry. Consequentially, Illinois banned products containing microbeads. New York and California are also considering taking legislative action against the plastic pollutants, but they might not have to. In response to the criticism, Crest announced that it would completely eliminate microbeads from its products by March 2016. It turns out that Crest was simply sprinkling the plastic in our toothpaste to give it a pretty color. L’Oreal and Johnson & Johnson, among other companies, have made similar pledges.
The realization that I had been coating my mouth in plastic beads, and that those same beads are also contributing to the pollution of our water and marine life was unnerving. It shocks me that huge corporations, with thousands of presumably competent employees, could think it a good idea to inject pieces of non-biodegradable plastic into their products. At the same time, I was pleasantly surprised to see how powerful consumer’s voices can be when they are heard. The microbead ban in Illinois, as well as the self-imposed bans pledged by some corporations, were in direct response to consumer outcry.
The power of the consumer was recently discussed in a fantastic piece by my fellow opinion writer, Nafisa Masud, who pointedly wrote; “We have the power to … boycott corrupt businesses, and [that] speak[s] so much louder than useless complaints against the government.” While Crest and other companies that sell microbead embedded products are more likely indifferently ignorant than corrupt, I think Nafisa sums up this story quite well. We only vote for a president once every four years, but we vote for companies dozens of times a day. So make your votes count, and say no to polyethylene microbeads! For a full list of products containing microbeads, check out beatthemicrobead.org.