Canadian Government To Ban Microbeads In Personal Care Products

The Canadian government has published a proposed Order to add plastic microbeads to the Toxic Substances List and has announced it is developing regulations to ban their use.  

Microbeads are synthetic polymer particles manufactured to be larger than 0.1 micrometer and smaller than or equal to five millimeters and are commonly used in personal care products such as scrubs, bath products, facial cleaners and toothpastes. Environment Canada studies consider microbeads to be eco-toxic but there is no evidence of human health concerns linked to the release of microbeads into the environment.

Once microbeads are added to the Toxic Substances List under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), the government intends to introduce regulations to reduce the release of microbeads into the environment. The proposed regulations would prohibit the: