Microbeads are banned, but plastic-filled products are everywhere

Thursday, 11 June 2020

Some New Zealand stores were stocking some microbead products imported from Australia, before deciding to pull them following a Stuff investigation.

Microbeads are banned in New Zealand, but plastic-filled products are still being sold.

A plastic by the name of acrylates copolymer, on the label of several body wash, cosmetic and cleaning products, may be harming human health and the environment.

Massey University Political Ecology Research Centre co-director Dr Trisia Farrelly said products containing acrylates copolymer carried health risks, yet they fell outside of the current microbead ban.

'New Zealanders need to know that plastics are present in a much wider range of cosmetic and other consumer products than they are likely to be aware of,' Farrelly said.

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The Environmental Protection Authority says it wants to know more about how and where products are being sold.

Microbead products were regulated due to the harm they posed to aquatic animals and their ecosystems.

However, acrylates copolymer and its variations also posed serious risks to human health, Farrelly said.

Acrylates copolymer, can leach styrene, which has been listed by many institutions as a likely human carcinogen.

'The toxicological impacts of the plastics found to be contained in cosmetics and a wide range of consumer products on human and animal health has been largely ignored.'

One type of acrylates copolymer, styrene acrylates copolymer, is added to cosmetics for colour - commonly found in nail polish, sunscreen, moisturiser, body wash, shampoo, and eyeliner.

Used in a body product, it can leach styrene monomer, a likely human carcinogen listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and by the US National Toxicology Program.

Environmental anthropologist, political ecologist and single-use plastic-free campaigner, Dr Trisia Farrelly says the toxicological impacts of plastics in cosmetics have 'been largely ignored'.

'Styrene is also listed on the California Proposition 65 list of known carcinogens to cause cancer,' Farrelly said.

'Styrene is also a Category 1 endocrine disrupting chemical which tests harmful to humans’ hormone systems at extraordinarily low doses.'

In 2018, the government used the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 to regulate microbeads, including any “wash off” product with plastic particles smaller than 5mm at their widest point.

Farrelly said products containing acrylates copolymer within that description should also be restricted.

'The complicating factor for acrylate copolymers is that these plastics are also present in cosmetics in various forms which may fall outside NZ’s microbead ban as it currently stands - i.e., not only in tiny solid forms commonly defined as ‘particles’, but also as a liquid.'

An Environmental Protection Authority spokesman said their compliance team wanted to establish the circumstances under which the products were being sold.

There were some exemptions for certain types of microbead containing products relating to medical use, he said.

Microbeads from personal care and beauty products in 2018.

The products may have been imported from Australia.

'New Zealand’s trade agreement with Australia (Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement) can create circumstances where microbead products for personal cleansing may be imported from Australia and sold in New Zealand.

'This is dependent on them meeting Australia’s regulatory requirements. While New Zealand has banned manufacture and sale, Australia opted in 2016 to do a voluntary phase out.'

'It will take some time for us to look into this further before we can establish whether the sale of [these]products … complies with NZ regulatory requirements.'

In a statement, Greenpeace said it was surprised and deeply concerned at the use of known microplastic contaminants as a possible workaround for banned microbeads.

Greenpeace NZ plastics campaigner Phil Vine said 'this appears to be a cynical way of getting around the ban against microbeads, won with the support of the majority of New Zealanders'.

“Micro plastics like acrylates copolymer are every bit as dangerous to oceans, wildlife and humans as microbeads, banned in this country and many others for good reason - microplastics are a public health disaster waiting to happen.”

According to the Beat the Microbead campaign, manufacturers are increasingly turning to use acrylates copolymer in the place of microbeads.

In many countries the regulation of microbeads has increased public awareness of polyethylene beads in beauty products, and manufacturers have turned to acrylates copolymer instead.

Acrylates copolymer is a well-established microplastic. It does not just disappear once washed down the drain, and wastewater systems cannot remove the plastic particles during water treatment.

Fish are ingesting the microplastic particles, but humans eat them too. A 2019 report from Australia's University of Newcastle found the average person could be consuming 2000 tiny microplastic pieces every week - the equivalent of a credit card.

The World Health Organisation has warned microplastic particles in drinking water could carry bacteria and spread disease.