Hair dye could be placed on banned list thanks to European Union

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

7:45PM GMT 21 Nov 2013

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Common household chemicals could be banned from sale to the general public as part of a European Union drive to combat terrorism.

Plans published by the Home Office could prohibit the sale of hydrogen peroxide, which has wide-ranging uses in the home including as a hair dye.

Other common household chemicals used as herbicides could also be banned along with nitromethane, which is used as a fuel in model aeroplanes.

Retailers could also face other restrictions on the sale of chemicals including nail varnish remover and types of drain cleaner.

The Home Office plans respond to EU regulations published in February which aim to restrict the availability of chemicals which terrorists can use to make explosives.

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The guidance says: “Home users will be affected. There are legitimate household or hobby uses for some of the chemicals affected by the policy restrictions.

“Homemade explosives have been part of over 70 per cent if UK homeland attacks since the late 1990s.

“They are capable of causing mass harm and significant infrastructure damage.”

The Muslim extremist who attacked London’s transport network on July 7, 2005, used hydrogen peroxide from hair dye to make their explosives which killed 52 innocent people and injured more than 700.

At the inquest into the atrocity, Lady Justice Hallett, the coroner, said it was easier to buy hydrogen peroxide than many ordinary household drugs such as aspirin.

The new consultation set out several options including a ban on sale to the general public of a range of chemicals including hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid and potassium chlorate.

Another option said the public would only be allowed to buy the chemicals if they held a licence or gave the supplier their name and address at the time of purchase.

The cost to businesses - in training staff and complying with the regulations - was estimated to run into millions of pounds a year, not including lose revenue from banned goods.

A consultation on the proposals will run for seven weeks.

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Police are pushing for condoms to be banned from Edinburgh's licensed saunas.

The move comes as the city council weighs up whether to grant licenses for five saunas in the Scottish capital.

Police Scotland argues the authority should only grant licenses if items of a sexual nature are prohibited on the premises.

However, the sex workers' charity Scot-pep says the police's proposal could lead to an HIV epidemic.

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