Daniel Ross,
AlterNet.org
November 2017
Glitter...Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—impact sensitive ecosystems. That’s because PETs leach out endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which, when eaten by marine life, can cause adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects.
Glitter may be fun for a party, but it's a nightmare for human and animal health...
All that glitters ain’t gold, or so the old adage goes. And when it comes
to the glitter used in everyday cosmetics, specialty make-up, hair products
and party paraphernalia, the negative effects on human health and the
environment are indeed far from golden.
“They really do get into everything, and despite their tiny size, they can
have a devastating impact on humans and non-human animals,” wrote Trisia
Farrelly, a social anthropologist at Massey University in New Zealand and an
expert in waste plastics, in an email to AlterNet.
Glitter is one member of a large family of microplastics—tiny little bits of
plastic less than five millimeters in size. Think microbeads, microfibers
and fingernail-sized fragments of much larger plastic wastes that have
broken down over time. When washed or flushed away, microplastics make their
way into our oceans and great lakes, slowly accumulating over time, creating
all sorts of health and environmental hazards, the full breadth of which is
still being grasped.
For one, there’s the issue of how microplastics like cosmetic glitter—made
by bonding aluminum with polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—impact sensitive
ecosystems. That’s because PETs leach out endocrine-disrupting chemicals,
which, when eaten by marine life, can cause adverse developmental,
reproductive, neurological, and immune effects, said Farrelly. In this
recent study, microplastics are shown to significantly impact the
reproduction rates of oysters.
Then there’s the domino-like effect of microplastics through the food-chain,
for the sheer volume of microplastics consumed by seafood-loving humans is
staggering. This study from the University of Ghent found that Europeans who
eat shellfish can consume as much as 11,000 microplastics per year. But what
are some of the long-term implications from glitter passing through the
food-chain?
PETs attract and absorb persistent organic pollutants and pathogens, adding
an extra layer of contamination. When those at the bottom of the ladder—like
molluscs, sea snails, marine worms, and plankton—eat pathogen or
pollutant-carrying particles of glitter, these minuscule poison pills can
concentrate in toxicity as they move up the food chain, all the way to our
dinner plates, said Farrelly.
“When we eat Kai moana [Maori term for seafood], we are taking on these
toxins,” she wrote. “When they enter the gut, the toxins and pathogens are
very easily taken up.”
A growing body of research is shining a light on the resulting effects of
these toxins and pathogens on humans. Studies connect endocrine disrupting
chemicals with marine and freshwater fish population collapses, as well as
declines in sex ratios in human populations that live adjacent to plastic
factories.
All of which is prompting many marine experts and environmentalists to
advocate for the same ban on glitter as there has been on microbeads—the
tiny little balls of plastic used in things like exfoliating beauty
products.
“At the rate we are going, there could be one pound of plastic for every
three pounds of finfish in the ocean in the next ten years,” wrote Nick
Mallos, director of Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas Program, in an
email. “And unless action is taken, the problem is only going to get
bigger.”
At the end of 2015 after a sustained campaign at the state level, the Obama
administration signed the Microbead-Free Waters Act, banning plastic
microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products. Other countries have
subsequently followed suit. The U.K. and New Zealand announced their own
prohibitions on microbeads earlier this year.
Importantly, these bans aren’t necessarily a reflection of the singular
impact from microbeads. Rather, they’re a nod to a much wider understanding
of the pervasiveness in the environment of microplastics in general, for the
amount of microplastics entering the ocean alone is staggering. According to
estimates made in 2014, there are between 15 and 51 trillion microplastic
particles, weighing between 93 and 236 thousand metric tons, sitting in the
world’s seas.
What’s more, their impacts are myriad.
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