Microbeads could be BIG problem for our Environment.

     The next time you are scrubbing your face or brushing your teeth, think that you might be hurting the ocean environment.  Research reports started coming out last year that there are what is called microbeads going into our waters around the world.  These microbeads are said to soak up pesticides and chemicals after they are washed down the drain. (Bigad Shaban/CBS news)  The news story came out in May of 2014, and Shaban quoted scientist Marcus Eriksen, executive director of 5 Gyres: "By the time the plastic gets downstream towards the ocean, they become these toxic pills.  Even a small microbead, as it tumbles down stream, is picking up all kinds of industrial chemicals."

     In Lake Michigan there is the same concern.  Jennifer Caddick, of the Alliance for the Great Lakes: microbeads, says that these microbeads are "a bigger problem than we initially had thought". (Cheryl Corley NPR  news)

(Carolyn Box/AP/Courtesy 5gyres.org)

     In an article by (Clare Milliken Greatist.com) these microbeads are in more than 100 personal care products on U.S. stores shelves.  These beads are smaller than one millimeter and can get through the filter system in sewage treatment plants.  If not filtered out of the the treated water they go right into the waterways.

      (Bianca Nogrady of ABC Environment Australian) reported in 2014 that  microplastics, particles or fibres are measured at five milliliters or less in size, have been found around the world on breaches and marine sediments.

       These pieces of microplastics  are looked for by citizen scientists around the world.  (Galen Koch of NPR news) reported in September of this year that people around the world are collecting sample of water and sending them to research facilities such as Abby Barrow's lab in Stonington, Maine.  Here the samples are processed for these microplastics.  In these news report Abby Barrows said that of the 798 samples, 751 of them contained plastic.  

Where these Microbeads Found?

     Bianca Nogrady NPR news says these microbeads are part of toothpastes, exfoliating body scrubs, and deep facial cleaners.   When reading ingredients in these products you might see:

(www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com)

     From (weather.com) Ada Carr writes that these microbeads are made of polymers such as polyethylene, polylactic acid and polypropylene.  These are put in personal care products to replace natural exfoliation materials like oatmeal and pumice.  The bad thing about these microbeads is that they never disappear; they only get smaller and smaller.  (Phys.org) reports that researchers estimate 8 trillion microbeads go into the aquatic habitats in the United States.  As for the land, it is reported that an estimated 800 trillion microbeads end up in the sewage treatment plants sludge.  This sludge is then spread over areas of land.  Then through runoff from rains and snow these microbeads move into streams, rivers, and oceans.

(marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/crop925x350/public/field/image/microplastic.jpg?itok=jx4StcC9)

      On September 18-19 of this year, writer (Hilary Hanson Huffington Post) reported that the 8 trillion microbeads going into our aquatic habitats daily would cover 300 tennis courts.  Her information came from an article in the September issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.  So how big is a tennis court?  A single tennis court measures 2,106 square feet.  Three hundred courts cover 631,800 square feet.  Converting this to acres (www.the calculatorsite.com/conversions/area/square-feet-to-acres.php) it is 14.5 acres covered by these microbeads each day.  This becomes 5,292.5 acres in a year or 8.3 square miles. (www.asknumbers.com/square-mile-to-acres.aspx)  Imagine the affects of 800 trillion microbeads!

How do these microbeads or microplastics affect our environment?

     Sherri Mason, as associate professor of chemistry at the State University of New York, says from her research in the Great Lakes that these particles "They are about the same size as fish eggs, which means that, essentially they look like food.  So our concern is that, essentially, they are making their way into the food web."  (Cheryl Corley NPR News)  So if fish eat these microbeads and microplastics, which soak up toxins like a sponge.  These pollutants stay in the bodies of the fish which might become a toxic food source for humans and wildlife.  Quoting scientist Marcus Eriksen from (Bigad Shaban of CBS News) "By the time the plastic gets downstream towards the ocean, they become these toxic pills.  Even a small microbead, as it tumbles down stream, is picking up all kinds of industrial chemicals."  "Big fish eat little fish, eventually the fish is on your dinner plate.  And you're eating that fish, along with all the toxins it consumed along the way."  (Ada Carr of Weather.com) states that NOAA reported that plastics can last for decades of time as these microbeads just get smaller and smaller.  Where are these microplastics?  NOAA said even in Arctic sea ice.  

     (In Hilary Hanson's article "Microbeads Entering Our Water Daily Could Cover 300 Tennis Courts") states that "The beads look like tasty snacks to fish, amphibians, and other aquatic life, but due to some of the chemicals used to manufacture them, as well as the pollutants they absorb in the water, they are toxic to consume."  There are concerns for our dying coral reefs around the Earth.  A study showed that coral polyps take in the beads, but the plastic can obstruct their digestive system reducing the polyps's ability to get enough nutrients.  (John F. Calvelli of the Wildfire Conservation Society)  

www.scince.codex.com/files/Corals%20Great%Barrier%%20Reef%20microplastic.jpg

The concerns over these microbeads continues in an article by (Bianca Nogrady of ABC News Australia) where Professor Emma Johnston of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science in Australia states that "when things get that small, it opens it up for 96 per cent of the world's biodiversity which are invertebrates (those animals without backbones) to potentially ingesting them.  They can enter the bloodstream through the gut, and then they can circulate in the bloodstream, they can directly enter cells and tissues of these animals." (Professor Richard Thompson of marine biology at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom) summed up what the research is showing "I don't think at this stage there's any cause for concern from the point of view of human consumption of fish stocks and shellfish but it's very clear that a wide range of organisms--a wide range of invertebrates as well as vertebrates such as fish--are encountering and definitely microplastics."  

      I would like to add that from my knowledge of the food web that if base of the food web is destroyed or reduced all populations of animals that feed on the lower levels of the food web will suffer the same fate.

      Here is another warning shot across our bow.  In july of this year an article by (Lis Henderson was posted by Oceanbites from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography)  In this article microplastics are also formed by the continued fragmentation of larger piece of plastic...plastic bottles etc.  As other studies have concluded filter feeding marine animals including bivalves (oysters and clams etc) and plankton eating fish.  Plankton are in two groups: plant plankton  and animal plankton.  (Lis Henderson) went on to point out that larger filter feeder such as whales namely the baleen whale.  This baleen whale, a vertebrate, feeds on prey that ranges in size from the small plankton to small fish.  So the microplastic, meso-plastics, and macro-plastics have bonded with toxic chemicals are taken in by plankton which is fed upon the fish which ends up filtered out of the seas water by the baleen whale.  Scientists think that these different sized plastic pieces will interfere with the whale's ability to filter out only food it needs.  They also think that these plastic pieces may clog the filters needed in the feeding process.  As for microplastics...there is no evidence that they affect baleen whales.  What is known is that larger pieces of plastic in whales have caused starvation and death.  Expand on this idea and you will be asking..."How are the other organisms in the marine biome affected?"  Good question that will be answered one day by scientists and others are working on this right now.

(elitzgermanov.wordpress.com)

     How do We Solve this Problem?

     There is much discussion going into how do we go about solving these problems.  Some say clean up the shores and the oceans.  Other say stop producing the things that create the plastic problem.  Still others say that the problem is too big to solve.  Progress is being made to educate the public on their choices of personal care items that do not contain the microbeads and using natural skin and teeth products.  There are companies, who produce these products, saying that they are working to stop using the microbeads in their products.  Others worry about if they really will use loopholes in laws that are passed or will be passed and keep using microbeads.  I expect they cost less than the natural cleaning substances.  

      What about recycling plastic we use?  Research has shown that for recycling to happen it must be convenient for people to do.  Problem is that some organization have started charging to recycle where once it was free.  People think they must make a dollar for everything instead of doing what is right for our planet.  People have stopped recycling when they have to pay to recycle. Where is the logic in that?  People do all the work of organizing the recyclable materials and so even haul them to the place for recycling at their own expense. Doing this gladly.  But someone wants to make money on the concern citizen's efforts.  Those who make decisions have got to get out of the money-making mentality and realize they play a key role in keeping our lands, waterways and oceans from becoming total cesspool.   Profit has to stop being the measuring stick for our planet.  Simple...we screw this one up, where are we going to go? Folks we are in a fishbowl.

Sources:

Bianca Nogrady: 

www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2014/9/10/4084109.htm

Galen Koch: 

www.npr.org/2015/09/20/441936782/citizen-adventures-sample-                     seawater-to-count-tiny-pieces-of-plastic

Bigad Shaban: 

www.cbsnews/news/microbeads-could-be-harming-the-                                          environment-scientists-say/

Hilary Hanson: 

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/microbeads-8-trillion-                                             55fc7771e4b00310edf70fc7

www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/area/feet/square/feet-to-acres.php

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?gid=1006021504567

Cheryl Corley 

www.npr.org/2014/05/21/313157701/why-those-tiny-microbeads-                         in-soaps-may-pose-problem-for-great-lakes

Coral Reef picture: www.sciencecodex.com/files/corals%20Great%20Barrier%20Reef%20microplastic.jpg

Lis Henderson:

oceanbites.org/tiny-plastic-pieces-accumulate-in-a-huge-marine-filter-feeder

Feeding Filter Feeder picture:

elitzagermanov.wordpress.com

Ada Carr:

www.weather.com/science/environment/news/microbeads-microplastic-ocean-lake-river-aquatic-habitat-pollution

Microbead on thumb picture:

marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/crop925x350/public/field/image/microplastic.jpg?itok=jx4StcC9

Microbeads on penny picture:

Carolyn Box/AP/Courtesy 5gyres.org

Ingredients on tube picture:

www.bigbeackeywaterfilter.com