Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
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Friday Volume 682 16 October 2020 No. 121 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Friday 16 October 2020 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2020 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 649 16 OCTOBER 2020 Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers 650 (Children) Bill were fillers. This is worrying not just for the mental House of Commons health of our young people, but for their physical health, too. We do not expect something that we can Friday 16 October 2020 easily and very legally get done in the comfort of our own home to be something that can blind us, but, shockingly, that is the case. The House met at half-past Nine o’clock For those who are not familiar with fillers and with botox, let me explain: fillers are gel-like substances that PRAYERS can be injected into the lips or the face to add volume and plump the skin. Temporary fillers last eight to 16 months, and there are permanent fillers as well, [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] which have an increased risk of complication. There are currently no restrictions on who can inject fillers into Point of Order the face. Botulinum toxin, more commonly known as botox, is injected into the skin to smooth lines and Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con): On a point of wrinkles, and it is not hard to understand the attraction order,Mr Speaker.Thank you for giving me the opportunity of that. It is a prescription-only medicine, but doctors to correct the record. Last week, I spoke in the Backbench can delegate responsibility for injecting the botox to Business debate on planning. It has been brought to my anyone at all with no qualifications. attention that I need to make a correction. I said that Botox and fillers can be incredibly dangerous. Hinckley and Bosworth Council does not have a local Complications can include, but are not limited to, blindness, plan or five-year land supply. Hinckley and Bosworth breathing difficulties—if it is injected into the neck— Council does have a local plan, although in the past infection and the filler moving away from the intended 12 months, it has at least once been ruled out of date treatment area into other areas of the face. Many due to the lack of a five-year housing land supply. people, mainly women, have been left with rotting tissue, When the council leader wrote to me on 14 July about lip amputations and lumps. I remind the House that, if planning, I raise the aforementioned in a responding any of these complications occurs, the practitioner injecting letter on 30 July. I am still waiting for a response. After the substance needs to have no medical training whatsoever, speaking in the debate on Thursday— so neither will they be able to deal with the potential complications, nor are they required to have insurance, Mr Speaker: Order. I think this is a correction to so they do not have to pay for the very expensive what you said, not you putting on record what you want cosmetic surgery that may be required to fix the problem. to put on the record. What I want is for you to sit down. Let me say that this is about correcting where you went Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con): Does my hon. wrong. We are not entering into a further debate to put Friend therefore feel that, when people do run into on record what you want to put against the council. I these problems, the NHS will have to pick up the tab? think that you will save that for, perhaps, an Adjournment debate if you were to catch my eye. Laura Trott: My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. It is the NHS that has to pick up the bill for these Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con): I beg to move, problems, but it is not the NHS that will always pay for That the House sit in private. cosmetic surgery to fix them, so young people can be left with lifelong scars as a result of their surgeries, so he Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 163), and raises an excellent point. negatived. The worst of it is that these risks are not theoretical or rare. I stress that this is an unregulated area, so Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers instances of severe complications are not formally (Children) Bill documented. However, thanks to brilliant campaigns Second Reading by many Members of this House, the campaigning organisation, Save Face, and investigations carried out 9.35 am in the media, horrific stories have come to light. There were more than 1,600 complaints to Save Face last year, Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con): I beg to move, That and it is estimated that 200 people have gone blind the Bill be now read a Second time. following these treatments, but it is the cases of the Let us be clear, no child needs cosmetic fillers or under-18s that have really stuck with me. botox. However, this is not, unfortunately, how many of It is worth dwelling on a specific case study, which is our young people feel. Social media exerts a huge representative of the countless stories I have heard. An pressure on young people to conform to aesthetic ideals, under-18 female, who I will not name, booked a lip filler which are simply not attainable without cosmetic surgery treatment after seeing a social media post promoting a or interventions, and this, combined with their increasing discount. When she arrived at the clinic, she applied availability on the high street and in people’s homes, numbing cream herself to her lips. She was not asked means that we have an increasing normalisation of her name. She was not asked details of her medical cosmetic interventions among the young. These procedures history. She was not even told what product was being risk ruining young people’s lives. used. She was not told of any possible side-effects. She Alarmingly, this is an unregulated area, so the data was not consulted. that we have on prevalence is very thin, but a survey in The treatment itself took less than 10 minutes. On 2018 showed that 100,000 under-16s had undergone completion, she was hurried out to pay the final balance. cosmetic enhancements, the most common of which A few days later, she was experiencing significant pain 651 Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers 16 OCTOBER 2020 Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers 652 (Children) Bill (Children) Bill [Laura Trott] as tattoos. The Bill would impose a duty on businesses to ensure that they do not arrange or perform these and loss of sensation on the left side of her face. She procedures on under-18s unless approved by a doctor. contacted the person who treated her. She was ignored. We can no longer allow the unscrupulous actions of Her symptoms became worse. She contacted her GP. some people to impact on our children’s lives, and those She was told she should go and see another practitioner. administering the procedures must be held accountable. When she eventually found a reputable local aesthetic The most frequent reaction I have received in response healthcare professional, she reviewed her lips and concluded to my Bill is, “Surely, that is illegal already.” I join in that the filler was compromising the blood flow to the that disbelief, and this House must now put it right. tissue. She nearly lost her lips. This is an under-18 girl who nearly lost her lips through a procedure freely Mr Speaker: Sir Christopher Chope is missing, so I advertised and legally administered with no warnings call James Cartlidge. or regulation whatever. Sadly, that example is not rare enough. 9.44 am At the opening session of the all-party parliamentary James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con): I am slightly group on beauty, aesthetics and wellbeing’s inquiry into surprised to be called so early when my hon. Friend the the sector, Rachel Knappier appeared. She suffered Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) was from a botched filler, injected by a practitioner without ahead of me on the call list. any medical training, which resulted in her needing critical care. She told the APPG that there is Mr Speaker: He may have been ahead, but if he is not “nowhere for these people to turn to” here, you are certainly the winner! when things go wrong. She continued: “Cheap adverts on social platforms are encouraging young James Cartlidge: The Bill is about fillers, and we impressionable people to seek an instant change to their could have had a filibuster—you never know. … appearance to seek what is portrayed as the image of perfection.” I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks I could expound at length on the historical lack of (Laura Trott) on her brilliant speech. This Bill is oversight on women’s health issues. From PIP breast clearly well justified. She set out the scope of it and the implants to vaginal mesh, we have simply not seen key powers in it, and she has done herself immense enough focus on these important issues by Governments credit. over decades. This is a private Member’s Bill, however, I need to declare an interest. For many years, I have and is necessarily limited in scope. I am pleased that the benefited from an artificial enhancement to my appearance. current Minister for Patient Safety, Mental Health and It may not be obvious to most people in the room, and Suicide Prevention and her predecessor, my hon.