你還在用磨砂洗面奶嗎？

The stage is set for a ban on soaps, toothpastes, and body washes that contain tiny plastic particles called microbeads. The US House of Representatives recently passed a bill that phases out the environmentally-harmful beads beginning 1 July 2017, and now heads to the Senate for approval. The problem with microbeads is simple: They don't dissolve, instead entering waterstreams by the billions.

含有被稱作微膠珠的磨砂顆粒的洗面奶，牙膏和沐浴乳產(chǎn)品即將被全面禁止使用。美國眾議院最近通過了一項(xiàng)法案，從2017年6月1日起將逐步淘汰這種對環(huán)境有傷害的顆粒物。接下來將等待美國參議院通過。這種磨砂顆粒的害處很簡單：它們無法溶解，數(shù)十億計(jì)的顆粒因此進(jìn)入了水流之中。

California's State Assembly approved a measure to ban the beads, which are touted by big companies as skin exfoliators, this summer.

今年夏天，加州眾議院通過禁止使用這種顆粒的法規(guī)。長期以來大公司的皮膚去角質(zhì)產(chǎn)品一直在吹噓這種顆粒。

In the state of New York alone, 19 tons (17 tonnes) of microbeads are washed down the drain each year, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, where they collect harmful pollutants like DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane). In waterways, fish and other wildlife mistake the teensy scraps of plastic for food. From there, the beads are integrated into the food chain.

根據(jù)國際野生生物保護(hù)學(xué)會的統(tǒng)計(jì)，僅僅在紐約州，每年就有19噸的磨砂顆粒被沖入下水道。在那里這些顆粒會聚集有害污染物比如DDT(二氯二本三氯乙烷)。在水體中，魚和其他野生生物會把這些很小的塑料廢棄物當(dāng)做食物吞食。從這一步開始，這些顆粒就進(jìn)入了食物鏈之中。

"Microbeads are highly damaging to the natural environment and the wildlife that live there. Because natural alternatives already exist, a ban on their use in personal care products makes perfect sense," the Wildlife Conservation Society states in a press release.

“微膠珠對自然環(huán)境和野生生物具有高度破壞性。因?yàn)橐呀?jīng)存在自然的替代品，在個(gè)人護(hù)理產(chǎn)品中禁止它們的使用是理所應(yīng)當(dāng)?shù)模?rdquo;野生生物保護(hù)學(xué)會在新聞發(fā)布會中說。

A 2013 study found as many as 1.7 million of the tiny plastic particles per square kilometre in Michigan's Lake Erie, one of the bodies of water in the Great Lakes Region where many of our debris end up.

一項(xiàng)2013年內(nèi)的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)密歇根洲的伊利湖里，每平方公里含有多達(dá)170萬個(gè)這樣的塑料顆粒。伊利湖也是五大湖區(qū)域貯存人類廢棄物的水體之一。

Because they're so small, microbeads don’t get filtered out by wastewater treatment plants. Instead, they get discharged directly into rivers, lakes, and the ocean.

因?yàn)樗鼈兎浅Ｐ。鬯幚韽S無法過濾掉它們，因此它們被直接排放到河流，湖泊和海洋中。

There, fish, turtles, and other aquatic wildlife feed on the tiny bits of plastic, which to them are often indistinguishable from food. But rather than simply getting eaten and discharged by the animals, the microbeads become lodged in the animals' stomachs or intestines. When this happens, the animals often stop eating and die of starvation or suffer other health problems.

在那里，魚類，海龜，和其他野生水中動物都會吃進(jìn)去這些塑料顆粒，它們很難與食物相區(qū)分。這些顆粒不僅僅被動物吃掉并排出，它們還會存留在動物的胃和腸道中。一旦發(fā)生，動物就會停止進(jìn)食，并死于饑餓或者其他健康問題。

"We have the evidence that the micro plastics do cause harm," Marcus Eriksen, the executive director of the 5 Gyres Institute, a research group who led the 2013 study, told Scientific American. "I am hoping we can translate that research into some positive action."

“我們有證據(jù)顯示這些微型顆粒會造成傷害，”領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了2013年那次研究的五螺旋研究所執(zhí)行理事Marcus Eriksen告訴《科學(xué)美國人》雜志。“我期望我們能把研究轉(zhuǎn)化為積極的行動。”

Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble have all made pledges to phase out the most common kind of microbead from products.

強(qiáng)生，聯(lián)合利華和寶潔都已經(jīng)保證將逐步淘汰產(chǎn)品中最常見的微膠珠。