Mr. Speaker, again the NDP is rushing to take action while other major environmental organizations and the scientific community in general are still advising that continued study is necessary.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA, the national oceanographic body in the United States, are looking at this. We recognize the issue and we are working toward a solution, but it goes beyond microbeads and the banning of microbeads and gets into microplastics.
I have a letter from the Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. Some of its members have already banned and others are working to ban, and it concludes that the 14 companies it represents comprise the vast majority. With the phasing out of all of these products, there will be no microbeads in Canada, except through counterfeit products smuggled into the country.
Therefore, there is a need to address this problem, but I think the NDP's desire to rush to an immediate solution is not a worthy suggestion.