EXCLUSIVE: NYC lawmaker proposes legislation to prohibit sales of products containing microbeads
By Jennifer Fermino
"The risks of passing toxic plastic beads up the food chain far outweigh having them in our beauty products," said Council Member Daniel Garodnick. (Angus Mordant/for New York Daily News)
New York City would be scrubbed of all products that contain tiny microbeads — plastic dirt busters found in everything from toothpaste to exfoliators — under a bill being introduced Wednesday in the City Council.
Councilman Daniel Garodnick (D-Manhattan) is proposing the legislation, which would prohibit sales of items that contain the microbeads in stores, as well as online.
That means New Yorkers who use products like Neutrogena Deep Clean Invigorating Foaming Scrub or CVS Brilliant White Toothpaste won't be able to order them online and have them delivered to New York City.
MICROBEADS CAUSING MAJOR DAMAGE TO WATERWAYS, MARINE LIFE
Garodnick said the beads need to be banned because they are "toxic" and polluting the city's waterways and marine life.
An estimated 19 tons of the beads are washed down the drain every year in New York because the little plastic additives are too tiny to be caught by wastewater treatment plants.
They also are eaten by fish, which are then eaten by people, so they end up in the food chain, said Garodnick.
STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN TARGETS TOOTHPASTE MICROBEADS AS WATER POLLUTANT
"The risks of passing toxic plastic beads up the food chain far outweigh having them in our beauty products," he said.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has pushed for a statewide ban on microbeads, but the Senate hasn't taken up the issue.
Scheiderman and Garodnick will announce plans for the city ban at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Central Park Zoo in front of the sea lion exhibit.