How the Mail led the way

THE Daily Mail launched a campaign last Thursday calling for a legal ban on the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetic products, scrubs, gels and toothpaste.

The move followed a report from MPs on the Commons environmental audit committee. It warned that trillions of the beads are being flushed into sewers, rivers and seas where they become a threat to wildlife and, potentially, human health.

The Mail highlighted how the EU appears to have dragged its feet on implementing a legal ban, instead leaving manufacturers to voluntarily introduce measures.

It called on Theresa May’s Government to take the lead and introduce a UK ban.

Just one day later, the campaign won the support of MPs, MEPs, academics and environmental campaigners as well as leading sporting and showbusiness figures.

On the same day, The Mail published evi- dence from a Greenpeace study highlighting the danger microbeads pose on the British food chain.

The research revealed plastic particles have been found in more than one in three fish in the English Channel.

On Saturday, The Mail reported that Theresa May faced growing pressure to introduce a ban on plastic microbeads, after Brussels said Britain could do so. The European Commission signalled it would allow a UK ban on beads if it shows they are a danger to human health or the sea. Then The Mail revealed talks had begun between ministers and environmental groups over a ban on microbeads.

Meanwhile, ministers were urged not to let cosmetics firms off the hook with a partial ban and a campaign group revealed the world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

More than 350,000 people have now signed a petition calling for a ban on microbeads. And Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons announced on Tuesday that they were aiming to remove microbeads from their own-label products.