London - Humans are poisoning themselves and marine wildlife by using popular toiletries laced with tiny plastic beads, it was claimed.
The pellets, less than 1mm in diameter, are used to make face washes, shower gels and toothpastes more abrasive.
But they travel to the sea after they are washed or rinsed down the plughole because they are too small to be picked up by the filters used to treat waste water at sewage plants.
They then act as magnets for toxic chemicals such as pesticides and other pollutants in the sea.
If the beads are ingested by tuna, mussels, crabs and other fish destined for the table, the potentially harmful chemicals pass up the food chain to people.
Known as microbeads, the pellets have been banned from use in New York State, and concern is growing in the UK.
One MP wants them to be outlawed if companies do not agree to phase them out.
International campaign group Beat The Microbead has named and shamed more than 100 products containing the beads, including Boots Essentials Cucumber Facial Scrub, Clearasil Skin Perfecting Wash and Olay Essentials Soothing Face Scrub.
They are often listed in ingredients as polyethylene, or PE, but can also be made of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and nylon.
Some companies have agreed to stop using them, but campaigners fear this is not happening quickly enough.
Graham Stringer, a Labour member of the influential Commons Science and Technology Committee, said: “There is no reason for these microplastics in cosmetic products and I think they should be phased out.
“If they are not taken out voluntarily, then there should be legislation to ban their use.”
Professor Callum Roberts, of the University of York, said: “Microbeads are highly potent concentrators, feeding toxins into plankton at the bottom of the food web.”
He said that as these chemicals are ingested by creatures higher up the food chain, they become more concentrated, adding: “It ends up meaning the top predators have the highest concentration of this stuff and the top predators are precisely the things we like to eat, like tuna and swordfish.
“It is really a case of what goes around, comes around.”
Trade body the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Perfumery Association says microbeads form a small part of the billions of tiny plastic pieces in the sea.
Other culprits include nylon and similar synthetic fabrics that are broken down in washing machines before being flushed down the drain.
Despite this, the cosmetics industry said it was taking the issue seriously, and many companies have begun removing beads from their products.
CTPA director-general Dr Chris Flower said: “If companies have decided to move away from using plastic microbeads, it will some take time before we start seeing this on the shelf as reformulation need to takes place.”
Boots said the beads were only used in a tiny proportion of its products and it had stopped adding them to new ones. Existing products are being reformulated, while older ones containing the beads will be off the shelf by 2016. - Daily Mail