GROUP: BANNED MERCURY-LADEN COSMETICS SOLD WITH IMPUNITY

SKIN whitening cosmetics containing mercury, a toxic chemical, still abound on store shelves in open defiance of the national and global efforts to make these hazardous products a thing of the past.

Despite the 2020 phaseout for such cosmetics under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, traders continue to flout the laws with impunity, observed the toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition.

“Our latest market investigation covering nine cities from Baguio to Davao shows blatant trade in smuggled cosmetics, particularly facial creams, with undisclosed mercury content as high as 30,410 parts per million (ppm),” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“Companies target and lure consumers into buying these facial creams with the promise that using these so-called skincare products will lighten the skin tone, get rid of dark spots, and fight aging,” she said. Women are the main target of these hazardous cosmetics and are also the most vulnerable to the toxic effects of mercury exposure, especially if they are of child-bearing age.

The Minamata Convention, which entered into force in August 2017, has set a 2020 phase-out deadline for the manufacture, import, and export of mercury-added products, including skin-lightening creams and soaps with mercury above one ppm, which is also the limit for mercury as a contaminant in the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive.

Test buys conducted by the group from March 27 to April 27 collected 44 facial creams sold for P62 to 250 each at cosmetic, general merchandise, and Chinese drug stores operating in Baguio, Tarlac, Angeles, Mabalacat, Manila, Pasay, Pasig, Antipolo, and Davao Cities. Except for one, the products have been flagged by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for containing mercury and/or for lacking the required Certificate of Product Notification (CPN).

The products were then screened for mercury using an Olympus Vanta M Series X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, which detected high levels of mercury in 42 out of 44 samples.

Among the 42 skincare products found to contain mercury were Goree, Jiaoli, and S’Zitang products that are available in different variants, as well as Collagen Plus Vit E Day & Night Cream, Golden Pearl Beauty Cream, and Feique Herbal Extract Whitening Anti-Freckle Set, which came from China, Indonesia, and Pakistan. /