President Obama on December 28 signed into law bipartisan legislation that will outlaw tiny plastic microbeads that are increasingly found in water bodies and the environment.
H.R. 1321, the “Microbead-Free Waters Act,” will ban companies from manufacturing toothpaste and other personal care products containing plastic microbeads as of July 1, 2017. The sale of these products will end one year later on July 1, 2018. A different deadline applies to non-prescription drug products containing microbeads, with their manufacture ending by July 1, 2018 and their sale prohibited after July 1, 2019.
The bill won unanimous approvals from both houses of Congress in December in response to growing concerns about microbeads in personal care products that are washed down the drain but not captured by traditional wastewater treatment technologies – threatening lasting environmental damage in water bodies in which the particles are eventually deposited.
The White House released no formal remarks on the bill, aside from a statement announcing its enactment into law. The measure is now officially Public Law 114-114, with the distinction of being the 114th law enacted by the 114th Congress.