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UPSC Prelims 2019 · Environment · Pollution Files
Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into environment?
- (a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
- (b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.
- (c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.
- (d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
Microbeads, usually under 1 mm, slip through sewage treatment and reach rivers and seas. They soak up toxins and are eaten by plankton, fish and shellfish, moving up the food chain.
The idea
Microplastics are of two kinds. Primary ones are made small on purpose, like the microbeads in face scrubs and toothpaste. Secondary ones form when bigger plastic (bags, bottles, fishing nets, tyre dust, clothing fibres) breaks into fragments. Both end up in the sea because treatment plants do not remove all of them.
Face wash / scrub → Drain → Some escape treatment plants → Sea → plankton → fish → us
Why the others are wrong
(b) There is no evidence linking them to skin cancer in children.
(c) Crops mostly don’t absorb whole beads. The main concern is the sea.
(d) They are used in face scrubs, toothpaste and cosmetics, not as food adulterants.
The trap
Options (b) and (c) are scary-sounding health claims. UPSC’s answer is the proven one: harm to marine life.
Also know
Microplastics are plastic pieces under 5 mm, and microbeads are the ones made small on purpose. The USA banned them in rinse-off cosmetics (Microbead-Free Waters Act, 2015). In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards has classified them as unsafe for use in cosmetics.
🔒 Microbeads (<1 mm, cosmetics) → pass through treatment plants → enter marine food chains.