Image thanks to Newsweek
As I was rubbing in some new acne medication before bed, I notice that the cream carried a strange texture.
Beads?
Apparently they're called microbeads, a cheap cosmetic technique used in creams to add additional exfoliating (brushing/cleaning) capabilities to the cream. Perfect for cleansing creams!
Or so I would've imagined, until President Obama signed the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which bans the use of said microbeads in "wash-off" products (including toothpaste) beginning in 2017. The ban stems from the difficulty of cleaning up the beads; by definition, they're beads of 5 millimeters diameter or less. Add the fact that they're plastic, and it becomes an ecological nightmare trying to clean up all those microbeads.
Another win for preserving nature, but what does it say about the government that did it?
Now for the questions:
Is such a measure constitutional? What does that say about ecological goals and how they rate on the level of scrutiny that should trigger?
This is kind of a shot in the dark, but how does it begin to apply to the economy and what kinds of restrictions the government can place on that economy?
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