Evan Ritchie
Insight AP Econ
Mrs. Straub
22 September 2015
New Evidence of Certain Toothpastes Negatively Affecting the Environment
We have all been told that we need to cut back on our consumption of plastics due to its negative pollutant effects. People will tell you it only takes the little things to make a big difference. However, for some producers of bathroom products, those “little things” are about as small as they get. They are microbeads made of plastic (see picture below) that are used in some soaps and toothpastes and they are being washed down our sinks into nearby lakes or oceans. When this happens fish and other underwater life consume these microbeads and become sick. Researchers and some environmental groups are working to put this phenomenon to a halt. However, this information has come to the public’s attention only recently.
The public being made aware of this information may affect the microeconomics of the personal cleaning product industry. People will begin to learn what truly happens when they use products with microbeads. An article on CNN explains that these microbeads are not something our waste-water treatment plants were built to handle, and the overall amount of contamination is huge. Later it describes how the build up of the plastic beads are affecting sea life. The beads are toxic to fish causing the population of fish to decrease as well as the fish harvested to be of lower quality. As a result we may see the supply and the demand of fish begin to decrease as more fish die off and people decide they do not want fish of low quality. Also, companies will begin to lose profits on lines of products that contain microbeads. Brands like Neutrogena, Olay, Rite Aid, Crest, and Aveeno who all have a relatively high number of products in their line that contain microbeads will soon have to remove these items. This will affect the profit margin as this is a part of sales that they will no longer have. Of Procter & Gamble’s $11,312 million 2013 profit, the Crest brand was 17% of net earnings, according to their annual report. If they lose this product line, they could suffer a pretty substantial hit. Until companies are able to get ahead of decreasing demand for microbead containing products the market will have a surplus of these types of goods. Eventually all people will realize that using products with microbeads is not a good thing and companies will either be banned from selling them or not want to due to lack of profit.
Works Cited
Imam, Jareen. "8 Trillion Microbeads Pollute United States' Waterways - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Sept. 2015. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
"These Products Contain Microbeads." Beat the Microbead. Plastic Soup Foundation, 1 July 2015. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
"2013 Annual Report." Procter & Gamble, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Your article brought up a problem that I had never knew or thought about before. I always thought the beads in toothpastes and face washes were dissolvable and would not affect the environment. If this issue is brought to the public even more, I bet consumers would switch the brand or kind of toothpaste they would buy since there are so many to choose from. Maybe there are substitutes for those microbeads that are environmentally friendly and would still do the same job. I agree that this problem will affect fishing and sea life more and more the longer this problem gets put off. Great article!
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting article. I never would have thought that the effect of toothpaste on marine life could be related back to economics but you did that perfectly! It's crazy that something so small can have such a big impact on the environment. However, I don't understand why these companies use micro beads in the first place. It seems like a simple fix though.
ReplyDeleteWow Evan, this was a very interesting article, thanks for sharing. I would never have thought that a product like toothpaste could be harmful to marine life. I wonder if there is a suitable replacement for the micro beads that wouldn't harm the animals living in the ocean. Hopefully they find something soon!
ReplyDeleteWow this is very interesting I would have never even guessed this. Who knew something in our toothpaste once goes down the drain could harm fish in the ocean that's just crazy to think about. There could possibly be something else that we could use as another source to clean our mouths that wont harm the underwater creatures.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to think that something so seemingly insignificant in toothpaste could affect the marine ecosystem and alter our economy by damaging a food source. This makes me wonder how the microbeads don’t harm us when we brush our teeth, but I suppose we don’t usually swallow toothpaste and the fish are having problems with it because they are ingesting the microbeads. Also, I disagree with what you said about both supply and demand for fish decreasing because I think mostly the supply for good fish with decrease but the demand will stay the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the companies should get rid of the microbeads so they can stop hurting innocent animals. I also think that a substitute for these beads could be found easily to whiten and clean teeth if the companies researched about it. It's so sad that something so simple as toothpaste is harming animals in the ocean! Overall, you had a nice description of the vocab words we learned in class and a unique topic that I had no idea about.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting, I have used micro beads in my face washes for a long time because, I thought it was cleaning my skin better. I had not idea that these beads were not dissoluble and affect the marine life. I think that if the micro beads in both face washes and toothpaste was brought to the attention of the public there would be many substitutes that the public would go to. I'm sure that there are face washes that have natural micro beads such as lemon peels, however these are more expensive therefore the public does tend not to buy these normal goods. I agree that this is a problem and that it needs to change soon for the marine life.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think about how some things that are beneficial harm the environment. It seems that these companies would have to make a difficult choice. I like how you were able to show how two seemingly very different things affect each other significantly both economically and environmentally. Nice Job.
ReplyDeleteI would never have guessed that something so small could create such a big issue. The only other time I have heard anything about micro-beads was when I was at Lush, an all organic store; one of the workers informed my friends and I that they were only one of a few companies who did not use micro-beads because of their effect on the Eco system.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting article, thinking about how toothpaste could harm our environment is crazy; and how it could further harm our economy if we were to stop selling these products. It's almost a lose-lose situation for us. I did enjoy how you explained both economic and environmental impacts. Very good job.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article, I wonder if they will ever be able to find something to replace this product that is safe for the environment, I also wonder how long it will be before they actually take the initiative to actually take it out of all products. I would have to agree they need to get rid of this product because it seems like it would be easier to replace this then large quantities of fish.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article, I wonder if they will ever be able to find something to replace this product that is safe for the environment, I also wonder how long it will be before they actually take the initiative to actually take it out of all products. I would have to agree they need to get rid of this product because it seems like it would be easier to replace this then large quantities of fish.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a interesting problem because its micro beads in tooth paste that are killing and lowering the quality of fish in the ocean. This would be a trade off for tooth paste companies that have the beads in there. Less appealing toothpaste and eco friendly, or looks better but does damage to the environment. Its a trade off that they will need to make.
ReplyDeleteA great example of pollution and how it is really effecting us. But how is it effecting the sea life other than "just killing them", is there chemicals in the beads? Should we be concerned of those chemicals? How do we make efforts to stop using these micro beads? Could they possibly be engineered any differently? Can alternative solutions be proposed? Why are these micro beads such a big threat? Other than certain things, this is a very informative post. It makes it relatively clear on whats happening.
ReplyDelete-Anja
The fact that these products have micro beads can benefit other companies such as Lush, that use all organic products. Which is obviously better for the environment and for these all natural products and their companies.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting about how you where able to tie together the environment and economics. although i disagree with with the Supply and the demand falling. Usually when the supply begins to fall, the product gets more expensive. I think the Demand for fish will remain pretty linear for the near future, thus the price of fish will increase.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is an interesting topic that you've chosen, especially because it is one that no one else would have even thought of. I think that you tied in the economics of not using these micro beads with the effects it will have on major companies that use them very well. However, it may have been more interesting to see more info on these micro beads like what they're made of and how they are being used in various products.
ReplyDeleteNot only is are the toothpaste and fish markets affected, but the compliment markets will be affected as well. Since less people are buying fish, the demand for tartar sauce will decrease as well, since it is a compliment good of fish. Other services, such as restaurants will feel the impact as well. With a decrease in supply of fish, the price of fish would rise, and the prices of fish in restaurants would rise as well, decreasing the quantity demanded. In conclusion, not only are the fish and the toothpaste markets affected by these pollutants, but so are all other markets connected to them as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat gain do the companies have when using these beads? Why didn't they look for potential substitutions to ensure that their products were safe for the consumer and the environment it is being released in? If more consumers find out about this risk, they demand for these products will decrease which will allow an increase in supply because no one is purchasing these products. This could lead consumers to look toward all natural tooth paste and increase the demand of those products. After thinking of the potential outcomes I agree with you that the entire microeconomics of this industry could change with this little piece of plastic.
ReplyDeleteThis is truly a very saddening and eye opening topic. Creatures dying from such silly things like toothpaste should not be happening. What I'm really wondering is what is the point to plastic beads in toothpaste? I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to be putting pieces of plastic into our mouths that could easily be consumed. That does not seem like a healthy thing and we should find a way to change that.
ReplyDeleteI love the creativity. I would have never connected these micro beads to major environmental issues. I liked how you connected this to companies who invest in companies using micro beads. While reading this I began to think about the quota's on fishing. As the general fish population decreases from population, will the restrictions to prevent over fishing decrease at the same rate? Or will they decrease faster in an effort to allow the population of fish to rebound.
ReplyDeleteI loved the connection of how the microbeads will affect the microeconomics in the world - I wouldn't have ever thought that something as little as these plastic beads could have a huge effect on not only the environment but on the companies that sell them. Also, I have to ask why it's FDA and 'healthy' to be putting plastic beads into toothpaste.
ReplyDeleteI loved the connection of how the microbeads will affect the microeconomics in the world - I wouldn't have ever thought that something as little as these plastic beads could have a huge effect on not only the environment but on the companies that sell them. Also, I have to ask why it's FDA and 'healthy' to be putting plastic beads into toothpaste.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very unique topic to write about especially since it is a normative economic situation, and I definitely learned something new about a product we all use on the daily. It's so funny how ignorant consumers, myself included, can be. I personally don't think evidence of plastic bits in toothpaste will change the demand or supply directly; however, the affects of plastic on the environment certainly cause changes in these schedules like you had mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThis was such an amazing topic to talk about since no one looks from the environmental impact from the small things. This is what most consumers use when they have toothpaste and they don’t realise the big effects that toothpaste has with microbeads. And that these beads are toxic to fish causing the population to decrease which could end up hurting the sea life ecosystem. Just to see that toothpaste can impact the economy is so huge surprises me. For example the 11.312 million that Procter and Gamble could lose that and the 17% the Crest net earning. Also we can’t just look at if from money but rather the life that it affects. Great topic to talk about Evan.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow I love this topic, I never really thought about micro beads being involved with the environment. The connection between microbeads and environmental impact really was interesting and you connected it really well. I thought about supply and demand while reading this and mostly about the quota on fishing. I wonder how that changes with pollution and how it will increase and decrease it the future. The population is also interesting while thinking about this topic, I wonder how the outcome will effect the environment positively or negatively.
ReplyDelete-Bri (Wouldn't let me log into my account)
This was a really interesting topic for me to read about because I have never heard of this before. I wonder how that will effect the supply of micro bead toothpaste as awareness is spread across the nation; especially if the government gets involved. It reminds me of how certain restaurants in cities have to have licences in order to serve alcohol so there aren't as many people drinking in the city at once. I wonder if the same kind of this will happen with micro bead toothpaste because they don't want there to be too much pollution. There may, in the future, be a quota set on this. Overall, I didn't realize something as little as toothpaste could become such a big pollution issue and this post has opened my eyes to the severity of this situation.
ReplyDeleteColin Marks
ReplyDeleteThis article was very insightful. I never knew that microbeads were such a problem and environmental issue in this world. With this issue gaining public attention, it will be solved due to the fact that company's will want protect their public image.
Thanks for sharing that in certain toothpastes microbeads are used but please tell me is there toxic microbeads in skin care products also?
ReplyDelete