The UK government appears to be fully in support of a ban on microbeads in cosmetic products, following comments from Environment Minister George Eustice.
Eustice told MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee in a meeting on 14 June that the government is in favour of banning the use of microbeads in cosmetics and is working with European countries to push for an EU-wide ban. He said: “We now support a ban on microbeads in cosmetics and are working with other EU countries to get it on the agenda at a European level.”
The government had initially hoped that the cosmetics industry would voluntary phase out the use of microbeads but is now looking to enforce an EU-wide ban. Eustice also said that a UK-based manufacturing ban was also considered, but that the government believed that it would be more beneficial to push for a ban on their production and sale across the EU.
Eustice said that his department was now taking steps towards achieving this goal. He said: “Discussions are live now and if things go well it’s quite possible that we could have something in place by 2017.” He also said that the were hoping to follow the same process as the US, first banning the manufacture of products containing microbeads before banning the sale as well.
At the start of this month, a group of beauty brands and retailers sent an open letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron asking for a ban on the use of microbeads. A petition of more than 300,000 signatures was also delivered to the government, pressing the UK government to follow the lead of the US in banning microbeads.