They are smaller than the eye can see - but are microbeads damaging us and the planet?

Yet the damage done to the planet’s marine life by minute plastic beads called microbeads is becoming more and more obvious, according to scientists in Hampshire.

They could also be harming us.

You may have showered and brushed your teeth this morning and not known you were using microbeads which find the way from your bath or shower to the world’s oceans.

The tiny beads are eaten by zooplanktons which are food for most of the fish we eat.

Microbeads are added to toiletries such as exfoliating agents, soap, facial scrubs and toothpastes to provide ‘scrubbing power’.

Last year President Obama banned microbeads in the USA and recently Canada declared them a ‘toxic’ substance. Now a campaign is gaining momentum to to ban the beads in the UK.

Scientists based at Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC), have found that beads and other micro-plastics are present in the deep waters of the North Atlantic and are embarking on a special expedition to gather more data.

Early findings from an observatory in the North Atlantic have shown micro-plastics are present in the top 1,000 metres of the water.

Southampton’s oceanographers will soon analyse samples collected at this site over the past 28 years and other samples from the North and South Atlantic subtropical ‘gyres’, giant swirls in the ocean where micro-plastics accumulate.

This month a party from NOC, led by Dr Katsia Pabortsava, will set sail on the RSS James Clark Ross, for the Falkland Islands.

Along the way the 15 scientists aboard this “floating lab” will measure micro-plastic concentrations in the top 300m of the ocean.

They will use their findings from the three-month voyage to run models to predict where large accumulations of plastics may end up and what impact they will have.

Asked if she believed the microbeads were harmful to humans, Dr Pabortsava said: “To answer that, we need to know what type, what quantity and chemical compounds there are.

"The likelihood is they would be harmful.

“Apart from toxic contaminants they can damage guts of zooplankton.

"The plastics can absorb toxic stuff from the surrounds they are in and they will stick to them.

“It hasn’t been proven they are harmful to humans but they are harmful to fish and zooplanktons.

"They disrupt their hormonal system, and reproductive systems and could cause cancers.

“The potential effects on humans may be similar. It is unknown, but there is a high likelihood.

”A report by Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee in August, recommended that cosmetic companies should be banned from using plastic microbeads.

Mary Creagh MP, committee chair, of the committee said, “Trillions of tiny pieces of plastic are accumulating in the world’s oceans, lakes and estuaries, harming marine life and entering the food chain.

"The microbeads in scrubs, shower gels and toothpastes are an avoidable part of this plastic pollution problem.

"A single shower can result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean.

“We need a full legal ban, preferably at an international level as pollution does not respect borders.

"If this isn’t possible after our vote to leave the EU, then the Government should introduce a national ban.

"The best way to reduce this pollution is to prevent plastic being flushed into the sea in the first place.”

Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead backed the calls for a ban on microbeads.

“Just as we banned asbestos a while ago that’s what we need to do with microbeads.

"They are not just bad for human health but very detrimental to the health of the world as a whole."

The government has yet to respond to the official report and a Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said: “We are absolutely committed to protecting the world’s seas, oceans and marine life from pollution, and will take a detailed look at the recommendations contained in this timely report.”

Conservationists have welcomed the parliamentary report but warned that legislation must close any loopholes.

In a joint statement, the Environmental Investigation Agency, Fauna & Flora International, Greenpeace UK, and the Marine Conservation Society, said: “With companies dragging their feet on this issue, it’s now time for Theresa May’s Government to take comprehensive action on this crucial issue by banning any micro-plastics in household products which could end up going down the drain and into our seas.”

Fauna and Flora International provide a Good Scrub Guidehow to avoid products with microbeadsfauna-flora.org.

What are micro-plastics and microbeads?

• Micro-plastics are plastics that are less than a millimetre in diameter.
• They are found in cosmetics, toothpastes, face scrubs and detergents.
• Microbeads are designed to go down drains but are not collected by sewage treatment works because they are too small.
• Other micro-plastics start out as larger objects such as plastic bags or bottles and break down due to sunlight or erosion and become small particles.
• A Portuguese study found microplastics in 19.8 per cent of 263 commercially caught fish from 26 species.
• In a study of fish caught in the English Channel 36.5 per cent of fish caught by trawler contained synthetic polymers.
• It has been estimated that a plate of 6 oysters is likely to contain 50 pieces of plastic.