早上起来，你可能会先吃个早饭，然后再刷牙、洗澡、出门开始新的一天。但是，你可能并没有意识到，你清晨的一个小习惯，正在污染着海洋，威胁着海洋生物的生存，甚至破坏着整个食物链。
*Microbeads are *miniscule pieces of plastic omnipresent in our everyday cosmetics that you may have never paid much attention to up until now. From face *scrubs, *exfoliating shower gels and even toothpaste, there’s no escaping them.
微珠是一些非常小的塑料碎片，它在我们每天都用的化妆品中无处不在。或许直到现在，你都没有注意到它的存在。从脸部磨砂膏、去角质沐浴露、甚至是牙膏，到处都有它们的身影。
But while they may help keep our skin and teeth looking good, many species of sea life are mistaking the tiny colorful balls for food, ending up with them in their *digestive systems.
尽管它们让我们的皮肤和牙齿看起来很棒，但许多海洋生物却将这些微小的彩色颗粒误以为是食物并将其吞下，进入它们的消化系统。
“We find pieces of plastic in every sample of seawater we study from round the world,” professor Tamara Galloway of Exeter University told the BBC.
“我们在世界各地的海水样本中都找到了这些塑料碎片，”英国埃克塞特大学的塔玛拉•加洛威教授向BBC表示。
What makes this even more worrying is that plastic is known to be excellent at absorbing toxic pollutants in water – such as motor oil or *pesticides – and it’s thought that these toxins could be making their way up the food chain and eventually onto our plates.
更加令人担忧的是，我们都知道，塑料十分易于吸收水中的有毒污染物——如机油和杀虫剂等——而有人认为这些毒素可以因此进入食物链，最终出现在我们的餐桌上。
“An average plate of oysters could contain up to 50 plastic particles. We don’t have any evidence yet for the harm this might cause but most people would probably prefer not to be eating microbeads with their food,” Galloway explains.
“平均一盘牡蛎可能就含有50个塑料颗粒。尽管目前为止没有证据表明这些颗粒会对人体有害，但大多数人都不会选择食用含有微珠的食物，”加洛威解释道。
A number of countries have announced they will ban microbeads, including the UK and the US, but campaigners say that more still needs to be done to completely rid Earth of the tiny grains of plastic for good.
包括英国和美国在内的一些国家已经宣布将禁用微珠。但倡议者们认为，要想让这些塑料颗粒在地球上完全消失，还有许多工作要做。
“There’s a load of products containing microbeads – like washing detergents and other household products – which might not be banned. That makes no sense to us,” Fiona Nicholls of Greenpeace UK writes on its website.
“市面上有大量包含微珠的产品——如清洁剂和其他的家用产品——并不会被禁用。这对我们而言便毫无意义，”来自英国非政府组织“绿色和平”的菲奥娜•尼科尔斯在网站上写道。
“After all, what does a hungry fish care if the microplastic clogging its gut has come from a face scrub or a washing powder?”
“毕竟，又有哪条饥肠辘辘的鱼会在意，这些堵塞它们肠道的微塑料，是来自于面部磨砂膏，还是洗衣粉呢？”
There are still safe ways to dispose of microbead-containing products, for people who decide they don’t want to use them any more.
对于决心不再使用含微珠产品的人们来说，也有一些安全的处理方法。
Natural substitutes
纯天然的替代品
Several websites recommend squeezing the offending product into the trash, rather than down the sink, before cleaning out the container with disposable tissue and placing it in the recycling bin.
一些网站建议，在使用一次性纸巾彻底清理这些产品容器，并将它们放入回收垃圾桶前，不如将里面这些惹人厌的内容物都挤入垃圾桶中，而不是直接倒入水槽里。
And for those who still want to enjoy the benefits of exfoliating, they still can. There are several natural substitutes that are said to work in the exact same way as their plastic counterparts, except these will *biodegrade when flushed down the drain.
当然，还有别的方法能够帮助人们去除身上多余角质。好几种天然替代品都具有和塑料微珠相同的功效，在冲入下水道后，这些物质还都能被降解。
“There are many ingredients that can be used as an alternative. There’s *jojoba beads, *cocoa, raspberry seeds, rice flour, oats – to name but a few,” says Sonia White of British cosmetics firm Love Lula. “There is absolutely no cosmetic ingredient that is worth using if it has a negative effect on the environment and animals.”
“许多原料都能用作替代品，如荷荷巴油珠、可可粉、树莓籽、米粉、燕麦等等，”来自英国化妆品公司Love Lula的索尼亚•怀特介绍道。“如果一种化妆品原料会对环境和动物产生不利影响，那么它便没有使用价值。”
