EcoWaste Coalition Tells Consumers to be Cautious of Poison Cosmetics (Watchdog Finds 316 of 355 Skin Whitening Products in 50 Cities Laced with Toxic Mercury)

As couples gear up for a romantic date on Valentine’s Day that is just around
the corner, a toxics watchdog counselled consumers to watch out for poison
cosmetics with undisclosed mercury content.

Mercury, the EcoWaste Coalition warned, is a toxic chemical often found in
illegally traded skin whitening products, which inhibit the production of
melanin pigment leading to a “fairer” skin tone in the short term, but may
cause serious injury to the skin, the kidneys and other organs in the long run.

Health specialists had warned that users of mercury-containing skin whitening
cosmetics may experience skin discoloration, rashes and scarring and reduced
skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, while repeated
applications can damage the brain, the nervous system and the kidneys.

“Refrain from using skin lightening cosmetics, particularly contraband facial
creams, that have not been granted market authorization by the health
authorities and whose safety from mercury and other hazardous substances is not
assured,” advised Aileen Lucero, Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“Let us all take pride in our natural skin tone.  There is beauty and
dignity in being ‘kayumangging kaligatan,’’ she declared.

Lucero’s plea came on the heels of the market investigation carried out by
the EcoWaste Coalition from November 9, 2014 to February 2, 2015 that generated
damning evidence confirming widespread illegal trade of mercury-containing skin
whitening cosmetics in 50 cities in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and the National
Capital Region.

The investigation, conducted with support from the International POPs
Elimination Network (IPEN), a global civil society network promoting safe
chemicals policies and practices, was accomplished to generate expanded data on
the illegal trade of mercury-added cosmetics in the Philippines and push for
the early ratification and implementation of the Minamata Convention on
Mercury.

From Baguio to Zamboanga, the EcoWaste Coalition’s AlerToxic Patrollers had no
difficulty procuring skin whitening products costing P16.75 to P350 each
from various retailers and which later showed mercury many orders of magnitude
higher than the allowable trace amount of 1 part per million (ppm) under the
ASEAN Cosmetics Directive, Lucero recounted.

Citing data from the freshly-released report “Beauty and the Risk:  A
Civil Society Investigation on the Prevalence of Mercury-Laden Skin Whitening
Creams in 50 Cities in the Philippines,” Lucero reported that after screening
the samples using a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer, 316 of the
355 samples (89%) were found to contain mercury above the 1 ppm threshold
limit.

Of the 316 mercury-containing samples, 287 had mercury above 1,000 ppm, 44 had
mercury surpassing 5,000 ppm and 19 had extremely high concentrations of
mercury topping 25,000 ppm, with one sample having 96,100 ppm of mercury. 

The investigation revealed that 41 of the over 115 skin whitening cosmetics
banned by the Food and Drugs Administration from 2010 to 2014 are still
available in the market.  The study further uncovered 26 new brands of
mercury-containing skin whitening creams that should be banned by the FDA and
immediately withdrawn from commerce. 

“IPEN is proud to have supported this compelling
and timely investigation by the Ecowaste Coalition into the public health
hazard posed by toxic mercury in cosmetics,” said Australia-based Lee Bell,
IPEN’s Mercury Policy Advisor.

“This report exposes the widespread availability of banned skin lightening
creams in the Philippines in addition to other dangerous cosmetics that have
not yet been identified by regulatory agencies,” he noted.

Bell, a toxics policy expert, emphasized that “the recommendations of this
report should be fully implemented to stem the tide of illegal mercury-laced
imports in the Philippines and meet the requirements of the Minamata Convention
on Mercury as well as domestic regulations.”

Among the recommendations put forward by the EcoWaste Coalition to protect the
public health and the environment from mercury contamination through cosmetics
were:

1.  For consumers to insist on their right to product information,
including the ingredients comprising a product, and to refuse products with
zero or incomplete label or with non-English labelling information unless
English translation is also provided.  Consumers were also urged to
support the joint advocacy by the Department of Health and the Philippine Dermatological
Society “to uplift the health status of Filipinos through patient education and
early skin disease detection and prevention by proper dermatologic care.”