The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday said it is to impose a ban on cosmetics and toothpastes containing plastic microbeads next year to prevent plastic particle water pollution.
“The EPA will ban the production, importation and sale of personal care products and toothpastes containing microbeads next year at the earliest,” Department of Waste Management Director Wu Sheng-chung (吳盛忠) said.
Wu made the announcement at a news conference convened by Taiwan Watch Institute and Greenpeace Taiwan calling for the phasing out of the use of microbeads in cosmetics and toothpastes — the latest in a series of such attempts since last year.
Microbeads are tiny plastic particles that are widely used in exfoliating agents. They are too small to be picked up by sewage filtration systems so they enter the ocean and food chain, causing damage to human health, Taiwan Watch Institute researcher Sun Wei-tzu (孫瑋孜) said.
“Microbeads are smaller than most plastic debris in the ocean and are consumed by marine organisms. Microbeads absorb organic pollutants around them, making them like pills of highly concentrated toxins,” Sun said.
A study published last week in the academic journal Science found that perch larvae exposed to microplastic particles showed lower growth rates, lower activity levels and higher mortality rates, and that larvae prefer eating microbeads to their natural food source zooplankton, Sun said.
A Belgian study in 2014 showed that microbeads had been found in farmed oysters, and it was estimated that European shellfish consumers ingested about 11,000 microbeads per year.
While the use of microbeads is banned in Canada and is to be prohibited in the US, a survey by the institute found that 42 percent of personal care products sold in Taiwan contain microbeads, with a tube of facial foam containing hundreds of thousands of particles, institute secretary-general Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖) said.
Microbeads are also present in products that do not advertise a scrubbing or peeling function.
A survey of 6,526 people conducted by the institute showed that 65 percent of respondents wanted microbeads to be banned within six months.
While supporting the banning of the substance, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said the agency should speed up the ban.
“The EPA should do the right thing immediately if it really wants to break away from its role as a passive and submissive agency, as EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan [李應元] has said. The most urgent tasks now are banning microbeads and controlling slag,” Lin said.
“Microbeads have a limited exfoliating effect, but a significant impact on the environment, and banning the substance is advantageous to everyone but manufacturers. Why do we have to protect manufacturers of harmful products?” Hsieh said.
The institute has developed a smartphone application to enable users to scan barcodes of cosmetic products to check whether they contain microbeads. The app can be downloaded from the institute’s Web site.
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
SIX SUBSIDIES: The monthly allowance for older farmers is to increase to NT$10,000, and NT$5,000 is to be given to homemakers under the national pension system, Lai said The government is to implement major welfare policies for disadvantaged groups, including raising the monthly allowance for older farmers to NT$10,000 and providing homemakers with NT$5,000 per month, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks during a visit to Wangling Temple in Chiayi County, saying that the planned increases were being introduced amid economic growth and an increase in tax revenue. Touting a policy, in which the government plans to provide a monthly allowance of NT$5,000 for every child under the age of 18 in a bid to address Taiwan’s low birthrate, Lai said that if received for the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
ISOLATION: The outposts would serve as support and backup bases, forcing US forces to either face China head-on or reroute, increasing travel time and operational costs China’s outposts in the South China Sea could be used to delay and constrain foreign forces during a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, giving Beijing a critical window to carry out amphibious landing and blockade operations, a report said. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) forward operating bases on islands and reclaimed features in the South China Sea could delay foreign forces long enough for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to secure a key 48-to-72-hour window in the Taiwan Strait, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council found. The report, conducted by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, examined
RSS