{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr1321-114/featured_microbead-free-waters-act-of-2015-1454548507.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr1321-114/featured_large_microbead-free-waters-act-of-2015-1454548507.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr1321-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-03-04","title_override":"Should Congress Ban Plastic Microbeads From Cosmetics?","summary_override":"

This bill aims to phase out cosmetics and over-the-counter drugs that have microbeads by July, 1, 2019. This plan would be executed over the following timeline with these bans:

July, 1, 2017: Manufacturing products with microbeads would be banned;
July, 1, 2018: Selling cosmetics (like this) with microbeads would be banned;
July, 1, 2019: Over-the-counter drugs (like this) with microbeads would be banned;

Microbeads are little synthetic plastic bits, often used as exfoliants, that can be found in hundreds of body scrubs, shampoos, toothpastes, and face washes. Because they are usually only about 5 millimeters in size, when they wash down the drain, they are often too small for municipal sewer systems to filter out. Consequently, they eventually end up in the ocean and have been blamed for harm to aquatic animals, ecosystems, and the people who eat seafoods that have inadvertently eaten microbeads.

","official_title":"To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the manufacture and introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of rinse-off cosmetics containing intentionally-added plastic microbeads.","short_title":"Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on December 7, 2015. The summary of the House passed version is repeated here.)\n\nMicrobead-Free Waters Act of 2015\n\n(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban rinse-off cosmetics that contain intentionally-added plastic microbeads beginning on January 1, 2018, and to ban manufacturing of these cosmetics beginning on July 1, 2017. These bans are delayed by one year for cosmetics that are over-the-counter drugs.","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"People who use cosmetic products, companies that use microbeads in their products, and the federal government.","argument_for":"Microbeads are harmful for to aquatic animals, ecosystems, and people who eat seafoods. The federal government needs to step in to prevent their use in cosmetic products once and for all.","argument_against":"The federal government doesn’t need to intervene where states and consumers should be making decisions. 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Should Congress Ban Plastic Microbeads From Cosmetics?