April 20, 2015 — New York Attorney Eric Schneiderman continued the call for passing legislation that will prevent microbeads from contaminating New York state waters, after a study found that the tiny plastic abrasives that are added to many beauty and personal care products are passing through wastewater treatment plants and entering state waterways.
The Attorney General’s office claims that microbeads found in Lake Erie and other bodies of water around New York threaten the health of both residents and the environment. The study, part of a first-of-its-kind report released Monday, detected microbeads in 74 percent of the samples, across plants of various sizes, treatment types and locations. Samples were taken from 34 New York wastewater treatment plants; microbeads were in 25 of them.
The microbeads contained in many personal care products end up at wastewater treatment plants after being washed down the drain when used, according to the Attorney General. Schneiderman’s office added when these bits of plastic pollute lakes and oceans they act as sponges for toxic-chemicals, attracting these chemicals to their surfaces and threatening the health of wildlife when the plastic bits are ingested.
The study, conducted by the AG along with Dr. Sherri Mason, a professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, was initiated late last year to determine whether plastic microbeads were being discharged from sewage and wastewater treatment plants into water across the state. The operators from the 34 municipal and private treatment plants from across the state collected samples from treated waste water for analysis, and the results suggested that microbeads are being discharged by most of New York’s more than 600 wastewater treatment plants, according to the report.
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