Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
October 12, 2021 01:43 PM

Congress looks at microplastics as 'emerging contaminants'

Steve Toloken
Assistant Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Microplastics hearing Rouzer-main_i.jpg
    House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Screenshot

    Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., questions witnesses at a House hearing on emerging contaminants in water supplies.

    A recent congressional hearing included calls for Washington to take a deeper look at microplastics in the environment and in drinking water, as well as potentially including it on lists of emerging contaminants for the monitor.

    The October 6 U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing focused more intently on other chemicals in drinking water, such as fluorinated compounds like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances like PFOS, than it did on plastics.

    But lawmakers including Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., quizzed witnesses on how the government should think about microplastics, water quality and human health.

    Elise Granek, a plastics health researcher and environmental science professor at Portland State University, told Cohen and other members of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment that she favored federal standards governing the amount of microplastics in water and food.

    "I think that we need regulations on the release of microplastics into waterways and benchmarks for what is safe in drinking water and perhaps in food," Granek said. "We have regulations of levels of mercury that are safe in fish, but we have no benchmarks on levels of plastics that are safe for consumption."

    The committee wasn't looking at any plastics-specific legislation but was hearing calls for more attention in general to what are called contaminants of emerging concern (CECs).

    The 2020 defense budget legislation directed the federal government to set up a national research initiative on CECs, and some witnesses urged Congress to build on that.

    A former Environmental Protection Agency official, Elizabeth Southerland, told the committee that Washington doesn't have any coordinated program to identify CECs but said lawmakers should tell the EPA and other agencies to develop a priority list and be more proactive.

    "We are suffering with a reactive system that waits for a public health or environmental crisis to occur before we begin monitoring and considering controls," said Elizabeth Southerland, formerly director of EPA's Office of Science and Technology in its water division.

    She said CECs can include pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, pesticides and microplastics, as well as natural substances like algal toxins.

    Microplastics are a new regulatory area for environmental and public health agencies, but California last year became the first state in the U.S. and possibly the first government in the world to formally launch a rule-making that may set standards for microplastics in drinking water.

    Screenshot House Transportation Committee

    Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., chairing the House subcommittee hearing on emerging contaminants, including microplastics.

    'Too many unknowns'

    Many of the questions from lawmakers in both parties concerned how to address fluorinated "forever" chemicals in drinking water supplies and the health risks from those.

    A local government official from Pittsboro, North Carolina, for example, talked about costly water system upgrades his small town had to make and how residents are "afraid of our drinking water," and a representative of an association of drinking water utilities urged more federal action.

    But other witnesses and a few lawmakers brought up plastics concerns.

    Charles Moore, research director at the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research in Long Beach, Calif., told the hearing that plastic in the environment meets the definition of a "planetary boundary threat" and that his research has identified "large areas of the ocean where surface plastics outweigh and in some cases outnumber the associated zooplankton."

    He said the Clean Water Act regulates all plastics over 5 millimeters in size, leaving smaller particles like plastic fibers shed from clothing and microplastics essentially unregulated.

    Granek, who said microplastics is one focus of her research, said studies have found small polymer particles widely in marine animals.

    She said studies of razor clams and oysters in the Pacific Northwest have found that 99 out of 100 have microplastics in their tissues. Similarly, more than 90 percent of fishery shrimp are found with microplastics, and all rockfish they sampled had microplastics in consumable tissue, she said.

    Loose microplastics are also a concern because other chemicals can stick to the surface of plastic in waterways and be consumed by animals, she said.

    Commenting on all the potential CECs the hearing was examining, including microplastic, Granek said evidence pointed to the need for more government action.

    "Although there is more research needed, there is ample evidence that action is needed now," she said. "We have ample data on all of these groups of contaminants indicating environmental impacts on aquatic and marine organisms and on human health."

    She also urged the committee to have federal agencies study how simultaneous exposure to multiple chemicals impacts people, rather than studying them in isolation.

    The chair of the water resources subcommittee, Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., closed the hearing saying she wanted to schedule a follow-up hearing with industry representatives to "come and tell us what they're doing about preventing these chemicals from being put out to the general public."

    "[There are] too many unknowns about the impact right now because a lot of these are not regulated," Napolitano said. "My concern is too many cancers have been prevalent in, I would say, the last two generations."

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    2
    Nova declares force majeure for PE made at Ontario site
    3
    Engineering resin prices close the first quarter with a drop
    4
    Entek picks Terre Haute, Ind., for $1.5B battery separator plant
    5
    Polymer Points Live March 2023: Commodity resin prices rising, but engineering resins see drops
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified