Microbeads in toothpaste pose health risks, environmental concerns

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Something in your toothpaste could be harming your gums. It's a concern being raised by the trade group, the American Chemical Society.

The concern is over something commonly referred to as microbeads. These tiny little beads are in your toothpaste and face cream. The beads are showing up in people's gums and the food chain.

They're also going down the drain and into rivers and streams.

Researcher Sherry Mason says 80 percent of the plastic she pulled out from the Great Lakes was from these tiny particles.

No one knows for sure what harm the beads are doing to the gums or to the food chain.

Procter & Gamble, which makes Crest Toothpaste, is phasing them out by 2016, after a dental worker said she found them stuck in patient's gums.

The state of Illinois has outlawed the tiny bits.

A complete phase out is expected by 2019.