Fish-Choking Balls Have States Considering Cosmetic Contents

Microbeads, the tiny plastic balls added to body scrubs and toothpastes by such manufacturers as L’Oreal SA and Procter & Gamble Co., were marketed as the greatest beauty aid since cold cream. Now fish have a gut full, and some U.S. and state lawmakers want the ingredient banned.

Washed down bathroom drains, the abrasives evade treatment-plant filters and accumulate in waterways. Researchers who found microbeads of 1 millimeter -- the width of a pencil tip -- and smaller in the Great Lakes, the largest surface freshwater system in the world, fear they may introduce toxic chemicals to the food chain.