The NDP successfully passed a motion in the House of Commons Tuesday that could lead to the banning of microbeads from personal products.
The ban is good news for University of Waterloo researchers who found the microbeads throughout the Great Lakes along with other plastic debris.
Opposition MP and environment critic Megan Leslie's motion, which called for microbeads to be added to the list of toxic substances, received all party support Tuesday afternoon
Before the motion passed, Colin Carrie, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of the Environment, said the government will "prioritize" microbeads for assessment.
Microbeads are commonly used in personal products such face wash.
In December, UW's Philippe Van Cappellen and a team of researchers looked into what scientists actually knew about plastic debris in the Great Lakes, and found there was minimal research on the freshwater lakes, especially compared to the ocean.
Microbeads aren't the only problem, Van Cappellen said, but they are a big problem.
"The main issue is that they're very small and move very far from the source area," he told QMI Agency. "And they're also ingested by wildlife, which can have an effect on fish and shellfish."
The research found the highest concentration of debris was in Lake Erie -- it had more debris than Lake Geneva, which has more than three times the surrounding population density.
The lack of knowledge of plastic debris in the Great Lakes is a big part of the problem, he said, adding his team has been advocating for more research on plastic's impact as well as for more regulation of things such as microbeads.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
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