How the Mail's led the way

THE Daily Mail has launched a campaign calling for a legal ban on the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetic and health products. The move followed the publication of a damning report from MPs from all parties on the Commons environmental audit committee.

The MPs warned that trillions of the beads are being flushed into the 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 the issue to voluntary measures by manufacturers.

The campaign has called on Theresa May’s Government to take the lead and implement a UK ban now.

The Mail published evidence from a new Greenpeace study which revealed how microbeads were feeding a toxic plastic soup in the world’s oceans.

Plastic particles have been found in more than one in three fish – including cod, haddock and mackerel – caught in the English Channel. Similarly, 83 per cent of Norway lobsters, sold as scampi, fished off the coast of the UK were contaminated. The microplastics become magnets for toxins which could harm sea life and, once in the food chain, end up on dinner plates.

The EAC is chaired by Labour MP Mary Creagh, who said: ‘A voluntary approach to phasing out plastic microbeads simply won’t wash. We need a full legal ban. ‘There is nothing to stop us banning these products in this country.

‘We would like to see our Government showing leadership.’

A petition calling on the Government to ban microbeads has so far received almost 350,000 signatories.

It was set up by Greenpeace, Beat the Microbead campaign, the Environmental Investigations Agency, the Marine Conservation Society and Fauna & Flora International.

People who want to support the campaign can sign the online petition at: greenpeace.org.uk/banthebead