Microbeads of plastic badly pollute S.F. Bay

San Francisco Bay is hundreds of times more contaminated than the Great Lakes with small plastic particles from cosmetics and synthetic clothing, a new study has found.

And the small microbeads and other pollutants are gobbled up by fish, whose guts contain far more of the toxic stuff than their fellow Great Lakes fish.

The study by senior scientist Rebecca Sutton of the San Francisco Estuary Institute found that plastic microbeads from facial cleansers and similar products are a chief source of growing pollution in the bay.

In January, Sutton took water samples from different spots in San Francisco Bay and analyzed the results. She found that the waters of the South Bay contained 2.6 million microplastic particles of 5 millimeters or smaller per square mile, compared with 285,000 in Lake Erie, 13,000 in Lake Superior and 7,800 in Lake Huron.

In effect, that makes the South Bay 330 times more polluted than Lake Huron, Sutton said.

“That was unexpected,” Sutton said. “I thought there would be a lower level in San Francisco Bay, because of its proximity to the ocean. We, as bay residents, are not taking such good care of the bay.”

Her study, titled “Microplastic Contamination in San Francisco Bay,” also found that small fish ingest the particles, mistaking them for food.

“They’re gobbling these things up,” Sutton said.

The plastic accumulates in the bodies of San Francisco Bay fish at a rate up to six times higher than Great Lakes fish. People who eat fish caught in the bay are also ingesting the plastics, Sutton said. Plastic particles can contain dangerous chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other contaminants.

Other sources of the pollution, besides cosmetics, are fishing lines, cigarette butts, synthetic clothing fibers and bits of plastic from packaging and utensils.

Many cosmetic manufacturers have begun eliminating plastic microbeads from their products or replacing them with safer microbeads made from seashells or fruit pits, Sutton said.

The state Senate has approved a bill, opposed by major cosmetics manufacturers, that would ban the sale of microbeads in cosmetics after

2020.

Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Assemblyman Richard Bloom (right) is congratulated by state Sen. Ben Hueso after his bill to phase out microscopic beads in personal care products passed.