NGT asks govt to issue notification on microbeads in 2 weeks

The National Green Tribunal today directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to issue a notification classifying microbeads as "unsafe" for use in cosmetic products.
Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimetre in their largest dimension. They are most frequently made of polyethylene and are used in exfoliating personal care products, like soaps, facial scrubs and toothpastes or even over-the-counter drugs.
When washed down the drain, microbeads can pass unfiltered through the sewage treatment plants and make their way into rivers and canals, resulting in plastic particle water pollution.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the government, through the Bureau of Indian Standards, to come out in two weeks with a notification to consider plastic microbeads, which are "5 mm or less, water insoluble, solid plastic particle used to exfoliate or cleanse in a rinse-off personal care products", as unsafe for use.

It also granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the tribunal in case he felt aggrieved by the notification.
The direction came after advocate Sumeer Sodhi, appearing for the petitioner, informed the bench that the Ministry of Health has considered the objections of the applicant that no plastic was biodegradable in water.

He told the bench that in May, the ministry had issued a draft notification enlisting all the raw materials that are considered unsafe for use in cosmetics.
The draft notification however only excluded the usage of "non-biodegradable polymeric microbeads," he said.
Later, after NGT's direction to the Health Ministry, the the objections of the applicant were considered and contents of the draft notification finalised, the lawyer said.

"The objections were considered by the Ministry in the meeting chaired by Dr G N Singh (Chairman, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, Delhi) on October 3 and the contents of the draft notification were finalised," he said.
The submissions were made during the hearing of a plea filed by Delhi-based lawyer Ashwini Kumar seeking complete ban on the use of microbeads in the manufacture, import and sale of various cosmetics or personal care products.
Kumar has said that microbeads escape the filtration and treatment processes for waste water and end up in rivers, which ultimately lead to the ocean where they contribute to huge chunks of "plastic soup" in the environment.

The NGT had earlier directed the Centre to test cosmetic products containing microbeads after a plea sought a ban on their use on the ground they were extremely dangerous for aquatic life and environment.
It had said it was the duty of the government to ensure that no "dangerous" product is allowed to be manufactured or sold to public and had directed the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation to analyse the products in a laboratory and submit a report in four weeks.