The European Commission is examining the possibility of introducing restrictions on the use of microplastics in the EU in cosmetic products such as toothpaste, facepacks and shower gel.
The future European plastics strategy, expected at the end of the year, may deal with this question in the interest of protecting public health and the marine environment.
Enrico Brivio, European Commission environment spokesman, confirmed this to the European press in Brussels on Thursday 25 August in answer to a reporter who said that a number of MPs in the United Kingdom were planning to introduce a UK ban on microbeads over the next eighteen months, before the country leaves the EU.
The spokesman said the European Commission recognises the danger of microplastics to the marine environment, animals and therefore potentially also to human health. The Commission, he said, is analysing the available scientific data and literature in order to assess how microplastics in cosmetics affects pollution of the marine environment.
One study ordered by the Commission and published in February 2016 is under examination and based on this, and other data, the Commission will decide whether to take action on microplastics from a number of sources, explained the spokesman. This will form part of the future plastics strategy, currently being prepared under the action plan for the circular economy and expected in December 2016.
The United States has already banned microplastics in cosmetics and a similar ban is demanded in the EU by Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The cosmetics industry lobby is encouraging companies to phase out microplastics on a voluntary basis. We are monitoring developments at international level and welcome the attitude of companies that make cosmetics to voluntarily eradicate microplastics, said Brivio, adding that a "European solution" was needed. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)