TOXIC TOOTHPASTE?

Cauliflower and Friends. Photograph                                                                 © by Ruth Zachary

This week on the News, (Television)  we were warned that some toothpastes contain micro beads of plastic, put into tooth paste to help clean teeth, with the disclaimer that the beads do not impact your health.  Tests done in the Denver area show the beads are made of the kind of toxic plastic that consumers have been trying to avoid, because they do harm the body. Not only do these plastics harm the user of these products, but then the consumer spits out the toothpaste and the micro beads are discharged into the waste water network.

Water that comes from rainwater and natural sources is filtered, city officials say. Filtering can remove a substantial amount of these plastic contaminants.

However, wastewater from treatment plants is mixed into the water supply of reservoirs and that water is not filtered for chemical problems. That source of water is the most likely place where the plastic micro beads end up. Many of us who live downstream, in the plains areas may be relying on drinking water that may include the micro beads and the chemicals leaching out of them, which end up in the water.

It is not necessary for the plastic micro beads to be in these dental products in the first place. As consumers we can look for products that do not contain the plastic beads, and we can lobby against companies that continue to use them. Some states have required Dental products to be free of these contaminants. 


Writing and images on this blog are the Copyright © of Ruth Zachary.