If you've ever used a face- or body-scrubbing product, it's likely that it contained plastic microbeads. These microbeads work to slough away dead skin, but just like other plastic products they represent an environmental hazard. For this reason, efforts are being made in New York to ban this plastic pollution from products.

Microbeads are tiny spherical beads made out of polyethylene or polypropylene ranging in size from 0.004mm to 1.24mm. They can be found in products including Clearasil, Clean & Clear, L'Oreal and Neutrogena exfoliating face and body washes as well as some toothpastes. A study estimates that nearly 19 tons of microbeads are potentially discharged into the wastewater stream of the State of New York alone each year.

The problem with these microbeads is that they are just washed down the drain. Because they are so small and buoyant, many escape capture by wastewater treatment plants, which tend to filter water through screens that have holes bigger than the microbeads.

The beads go on to act as "sponges for toxic chemical pollutants" and are mistaken for food by aquatic organisms. This means that the pollutants can enter the food chain and contaminate fish that humans eat, as well as birds, turtle,s and mammals.

A 2012 study of the Great Lakes using a fine trawler net found high counts of microplastic pellets, which matched those found in two national brands of facial cleanser. 58 percent of all microplastic less than 1mm collected in the Great Lakes was found to be spherical—a giveaway that it came from cosmetic products—compared with less than one percent of plastic that size found in the North Pacific. Further surveys were carried out in 2013 to confirm high levels of microbeads.

The beads have also been found in the North Sea, where the Institute for Environmental Studies conducted research in 2012 and found that for every 200ml container of scrub product, 21g of microplastics would end up in the sewer system. A study by the UK Marine Biological Association in 2013 found that a third of fish collected off the coast of Plymouth had traces of plastic in them. 504 fish were examined, and 36.5 percent of them were found to have ingested plastic, which researchers said could block their digestive system and lead to contaminant build up.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is calling to pass the Microbead-Free Waters Act, proposed in February 2014, which would ban the tiny beads from products sold in the state. This would be the first piece of legislation of its kind in the United States.

Plastic microbeads were patented for use in cleansers in 1972. However, it was only in the 90s when manufacturers began to replace more natural materials such as ground almonds, oatmeal and sea salt with the plastic microbeads.

In 2011, leading personal care product companies including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, and L'Oreal pledged to remove microbeads from their product lines, but many lines remain on shop shelves today.

This story originally appeared on Wired UK.