During a recent hearing in parliament, the UK Office of Science and Technology delivered a briefing on research that ultimately urged the government to ban the use of microbeads in cosmetic and personal care product.s
In the light of the hearing, Environment Minister George Eustice last week told British MPs that the government now backs the ban.
Previously British Ministers had given their backing to a voluntary scheme designed to phase out the plastics from formulations most commonly used for facial and body scrubs.
UK government forced to rethink
But the release of the report findings, combined with tougher regulations in countries such as Canada, the USA and Australia where a compulsory phase out has already been implemented, has forced the UK government to rethink the voluntary action.
"I think what has happened in the US has changed the dynamics of this, and we do think it's right now for us to say, well let's progress and proceed with a ban instead," Eustice said during his speech to MPs.
He also said that, while the UK still remains in the EU, its political forces should be pushing for an EU-wide ban on microbeads.
Catching up time for Europe
Europe has fallen behind places like Australia, Canada and the US when it comes to action to ban microbeads, but the actions by the UK government may mean that pressure for a ban may now increase.
Indeed, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology research briefing highlighted a number of statistics that underscore the importance of outlawing the use of microbeads.
According to the research findings, as much as 86 tonnes of the tiny plastic microbeads are washed up into the waterways and marine environment in the UK each year.
Microbeads are non-biodgradable
Those microbeads are included in a wide number of cosmetic and personal are products, including toothpastes, soaps and some colour cosmetics, but in recent years there has been a huge increase in their use for body and facial care scrubs.
The problem is that these microbeads are more often than not made from non-biodegradable plastic beads, and there is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that the microbeads are being consumed by marine life.
Indeed, the UK parliamentary research paper points out that more than a third of fish in the English channels showed evidence of the plastic microbeads in their digestive systems.
The report also pointed out that they have been found inhave also been found in mussels, tiny organisms known as zooplankton, oysters, seals and whales.
Speaking in conjunction with the publication of the paper, Mary Creagh, chairwoman of the Environmental Audit Committee, said that if cosmetics and personal care companies did not undertake a voluntary ban to phase out the ban, the alternative would be a ban implemented by the body.
Raising awareness of environmental damage
"This paper raises important questions about the damage microplastics could be doing to our marine environment,” Creagh said.
"We know shellfish and fish are ingesting plastic fragments, what we don't know is the effect this is having on them and on human health.”
Last month Denmark added to pressure on the European Parliament to take decisive action on banning the use of cosmetics and personal care products that contain microbeads in the EU.