Beauty products and treatments that leave women burnt and scarred are 'less regulated than ballpoint pens', MPs warn

A Commons Science and Technology Committee report, published today, found that UK cosmetics regulation is a "confusing mess," treating potent chemical products as though they were harmless everyday items. MPs described as "unacceptable" the government's 13-year failure to regulate high-risk fillers including liquid BBLs, with victims describing chemical burns, scarring, boils the size of £2 coins and hair that "melted and burnt my head."

Although Botox itself is a prescription-only product, nothing in law restricts who may inject it into patients.

MPs warned that dangerous products are reaching UK consumers through online marketplaces "faster and in greater volumes than regulators have the powers or resources to effectively police."

The committee said complacency over the regulatory failure "has clear roots in sexism and racism," with hair and beauty traditionally a women-led industry.