Products from P&G and Pigeon Included
The Green Consumer Network in Korea announced on Sept. 25 that it tested 12 fabric softeners on the market with the Korea Textile Inspection & Testing Institute (KOTITI) and ball-shaped particles regarded as capsules with a size of less than 50 micrometers were detected in five out of the 12.
“The five that are regarded as containing microplastics are P&G’s Downy Botanis Cotton, Lenor Happiness and Downy Lemongrass and Pigeon’s Rich Perfume Romantic Flower and Rich Perfume Signature Mystic,” the consumer group explained, adding, “We ran the test from June 25 to July 26 with FT-IR and SEM-EDS equipment capable of fine component analysis, and we could not analyze the components of Pigeon’s Premium Pink product due to the shortage of remaining capsules.”
In the meantime, the National Institute of Ecology recently announced that it detected microplastics from fish and water samples taken at five and six Geum River points, respectively. Earlier, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety detected microplastics in some clams available in fish markets.
In addition, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has detected microplastics in two domestic and four imported salt products on the market and the Ministry of Environment has found microplastics in one out of six bottled water products on the market.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety banned the use of microplastics in cosmetic raw materials in January 2017. The Ministry of Environment is planning to come up with regulations within this year regarding detergents, car coating products and fabric softeners containing microplastics.