Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand will ban the import, production and sale of beautyproducts containing plastic microbeads, effective from January 1, 2020, theMinistry of Public Health announced on December 24.

In anannouncement published in the Royal Gazette, the ministry said plasticmicrobeads, which are used in rinse-off products such as face scrubs, do notdegrade over time in water or in the environment.

Because oftheir tiny size, the spherical beads, used as exfoliants, are then washed downthe drain, often slip through waste water treatment system and end up in thesea, the ministry noted.

The UK, for instance, prohibited the use of plastic microbeads in theproduction of cosmetics and personal care products in 2018, out of concern overtheir impact on marine life, the ministry explained.

Plastic pollution,particularly in rivers, lakes, canals and oceans, is a serious threatto the global ecosystem as it is harmful to the life of marine and freshwaterspecies and damaging the beauty of beaches.

Plastics enter the food chainwhen they degrade, severely affecting the human heath. A World Wide Fund forNature (WWF) study finds that on average each person could be ingestingapproximately 5 grammes of plastic every week, which is the equivalentweight of a credit card./.