Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of possible health effects on consumers of use of methylchloro isothiazolinone in cosmetics, household goods and industrial items; and if he will make a statement.

The European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) has regularly considered MCI both on its own and in a mixture with MI. The SCCS last considered MCI on its own in 2009, and in a mixture with MI in the ratio of 3:1 in 2014

With respect to cosmetics, Methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI or CMI) can only be used as a permitted preservative under the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation as a mixture of MCI and Methylisothiazolinone (MI) in a ratio of 3:1 up to a maximum authorised concentration of 0.0015 % in rinse-off cosmetic products.

As the SCCS has recently reviewed the use of MCI, I have made no additional assessment.