Overview

Microplastic pollution is a growing environmental health issue that poses serious threats to human health and our environment. Microplastics enter the human body through our skin, nasal, and oral routes to contaminate multiple organs. Microplastics and the chemicals they release can transfer up the food chain and have become a pervasive pollutant, found in oceans, rivers, soil, the air we breathe, and even inside the human body.

Microbeads are tiny plastic particles used in personal care products, cleaning products and paints and coatings. They persist in the environment and degrade into smaller and smaller particles.

• 40 trillion microplastic particles per year are released from household cleaning products alone (Lin et al., 2023).
  Most people think of microplastics as an environmental issue, something that pollutes our oceans and land. But microplastics don’t just pollute the environment. They pollute people, too. And that makes them a growing human health crisis.
• Microplastics absorb toxic chemicals and bioaccumulate in the food chain, endangering ecosystems and public health (DTSC, 2023).
  These tiny plastic particles enter our bodies through our skin as well as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Exposure is especially high for those who live or work in highly polluted areas.
• Microplastics have been detected in various parts of the human body and even in the first bowel movements of newborns—meaning plastics are being passed down to future generations.
• Microplastics have been found in human lungs, bloodstream, placental tissues, breast milk, and even the brain, raising serious health concerns, including but not limited to dementia and cancers affecting the lungs, blood, breasts, prostate, and ovaries. (Jenner et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2023; Nihart et al., 2025, Goswami et al 2024).

Research has linked microplastics to serious health impacts, including:

• Genotoxicity (damage to genetic material)
• DNA damage
• Decreased cell viability
• Chronic inflammation
• Hormonal and reproductive harm

Epidemiological studies have also raised concerns about links between microplastic exposure and chronic diseases, including cancers affecting the breast, ovaries, lungs, blood, and prostate.

Communities throughout California—in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Central Valley—already face disproportionately high exposure to air pollution, leading to respiratory illnesses like asthma. Adding microplastic exposure into the equation only worsens these public health disparities.

The good news is that safer alternatives exist and we don’t have to continue exposing people to toxic microplastics in cosmetic products, cleaning supplies, and paints.

California Bill AB823 would Ban Plastic Microbeads in Cosmetic & Cleaning Products

AB823 prohibits the sale and distribution of plastic microbeads in leave-on cosmetics, cleaning products, and paints and coatings. Preventing the sale and distribution of plastic microbeads in these products would prevent millions of tons of plastic from entering the environment, protect our waterways and drinking water, and protect our health.

AB823 builds on a California law that banned plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal care products in 2015, and that went into effect in 2020, but which allowed the continued use of microbeads in leave-on cosmetics, household cleaners, and industrial detergents and coatings, contributing to ongoing plastic pollution.

On and after January 1, 2027, AB823 would prohibit an entity from selling, distributing, or offering for promotional purposes in California :

1. A personal care product containing plastic microbeads that are used as an abrasive to clean, exfoliate, or polish, in a leave-on personal care product, or
2. A cleaning product containing plastic microbeads that are used as an abrasive to clean, exfoliate, or polish.

On and after January 1, 2028, an entity would be prohibited from selling, distributing or offering for promotional purposes in California any of the following products:

1. A personal care product containing plastic microbeads that are not used as an abrasive.
2. A cleaning product containing plastic microbeads that are not used as an abrasive.
3. A coating containing plastic microbeads that are not used as an abrasive.

This bill would impose civil penalties for violations of these prohibitions.

Co-Sponsoring Organizations

• Breast Cancer Prevention Partners
• 5 Gyres Institute
• Californians Against Waste
• Clean Water Action

Contact

Janet Nudelman, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Janet@BCPP.org