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<p class="MsoNormal">This will be off-topic for some readers. Both articles are about New York State - Laurie<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/State-moves-toward-microbead-ban-industry-urges-5478990.php">http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/State-moves-toward-microbead-ban-industry-urges-5478990.php</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/environment/momentum-to-ban-microbeads-from-soaps-cosmetics-grows-20140514">http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/environment/momentum-to-ban-microbeads-from-soaps-cosmetics-grows-20140514</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">The tiny plastic particles that became more popular in soaps and facial scrubs over the last few years are
showing up on beaches and in the waters of the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">A report to be released today by state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman renews his call for a first-in-the-nation
ban on the sale of products containing the microbeads. And the report offers more details on the environmental effects of the particles, which are about the size of a grain of salt.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">A Fredonia State College professor who has been at the forefront of researching microbead pollution in the
Great Lakes said their presence is already noticeable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“Our beaches are slowly becoming plasticized,” said Sherri Mason, an associate professor of chemistry at Fredonia.
“People don’t realize how many actual particles are under their feet. They’re small, but you can definitely see them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">The microbeads get there through a journey that starts with a bathroom drain. After the beauty products are
used over a sink or in a bathtub, the microbeads are rinsed down the drain. Because the plastic microbeads float, they flow with treated wastewater into bodies of water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">A single tube of face wash can contain more than 350,000 of the beads, according to the 5 Gyres Institute,
an environmental organization that works to reduce plastics pollution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Microbeads are not removed by wastewater treatment plants because, unlike organic sewage, they neither bind
together and settle in the effluent nor are they eliminated through biological controls. Therefore, an estimated 19 tons of microbeads a year pass through and are discharged into the state’s waters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“I don’t think people are aware that this is everywhere,” Mason said. “Any water body that has a wastewater
treatment plant has this problem.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Microplastics, scientists say, pose ecological and biological threats to the environment by disrupting the
food chain, slowly poisoning wildlife and humans by changing the biological chemistry of our bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">For many, the issue is just becoming known.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“That was a shock to me that they were even there,” said Jim Hanley, a local charter fishing boat captain.
He said he first learned of the problem last month during a local forum about Lake Erie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“One of the things I always say is the best conservationists on the planet are the hunters and fishermen because
they are out there,” Hanley said. “Anything that’s polluting the lake, whether it’s microbeads or septic tanks seeping into the lake – it’s a big concern to us.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Mason’s early studies showed, for the first time, that plastics were present in all five Great Lakes.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Lakes Erie and Ontario have the highest concentrations of microbeads. Mason’s initial sampling showed areas
near Buffalo recorded some of the highest levels. The research also showed lesser concentrations of microbead plastics in the higher and less-populated areas near lakes Superior and Huron.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Lake Erie averaged about 46,000 particles of plastic per square kilometer, compared to about 6,000 to 8,000
particles over the same area in lakes Superior and Huron and about 17,000 particles in Lake Michigan.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">The figure was closer to 80,000 particles in Lake Ontario.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">What that seems to show, Mason said, is the particle concentrations increase as water flows through the Great
Lakes system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“It’s a very insidious problem,” said Paul Dyster, the Niagara Falls mayor who also serves as a regional director
on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a binational coalition of local officials that works with governments to protect and restore the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">The group supports the proposed microbead ban.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, said the issue should be at the forefront
of everyone’s consciousness in the region.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“If you care about the Great Lakes, you should be aware or concerned about this,” Jedlicka said. “Microbeads
are an emerging threat. Threats should not have to reach crisis proportions for us to take action.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Studies indicate microbeads are not able to pass through filters into drinking water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Also, manufacturers like Proctor and Gamble, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive have already voluntarily agreed
to phase out microbeads in their products. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Others, like Burt’s Bees, have never used them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“New York has always been at the forefront of national progress when it comes to addressing the issue of plastic
pollution,” Schneiderman said. He encouraged consumers to avoid products containing polyethylene or polypropylene.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“We require plastic-bag recycling in large stores. We banned harmful chemicals in baby bottles and pacifiers.
We are expanding our bottle-deposit law to include plastic water bottles,” said Schneiderman.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“By passing the Microbead-Free Waters Act, we will show that New York remains a leader in protecting the health
of our families and our environment,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">The bill, which would prohibit the sale of products containing microbeads, was passed earlier this month by
the state Assembly. State Sen. Mark A. Grisanti, R-Buffalo, sponsored the legislation in the Senate as Environmental Conservation Committee chairman.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Microbeads in the water are consumed by fish and other wildlife and ultimately humans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">It’s the plasticizer – a chemical added to provide more flexibility and stretchability – found in the plastic
that is the concern.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“It’s the plasticizers that can include 30 to 70 percent of the mixture,” said Mason. “Plasticizers aren’t
chemically balanced. The plasticizers can move in and out of plastic and into you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">One of the most commonly recognized plasticizers – BPA – is already banned in many of Europe’s food containers.
The United States and Canadian governments have also enacted bans to keep the chemical out of plastic baby bottles and other containers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Preliminary studies have shown BPA and other chemicals involved in the manufacture of plastic products act
as endocrine disrupters in the body, mimicking hormones. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">For men, researchers found that can lead to lower sperm counts, smaller testicles and the development of feminine
traits. In women, the consequences can include cancer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">The chemicals are also believed to play roles in obesity and attention deficit disorder in children.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“They’re reprogramming our genetic code,” Mason said of the chemicals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Laurie Tenace<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Environmental Specialist<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Waste Reduction Section<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Florida Department of Environmental Protection<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">850.245.8759<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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