8 skin creams still sold despite FDA ban
An environmental watch group said on Sunday that eight cosmetic brands already banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were still being sold in Manila and several major cities nationwide.
EcoWaste Coalition said it had detected high mercury levels in 11 beauty creams in the market and asked the FDA to ban their sale as the toxic metal was dangerous to both users and non-users of the cosmetics.
Earlier, the group’s AlerToxic Patrol bought from July 22 to August 17 imported skin whiteners from stores in different areas of Manila; the cities of Cebu and Davao; and Dasmarias and Imus in Cavite province.
Using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, the group found the highest mercury content in Yudantang 10 days sheep essence, ginseng and green cucumber specific eliminating freckles and whitening sun block cream which had 41,800 parts per million (ppm) of mercury. Yudantang six days green cucumber & ginseng specific eliminating freckle whitening cream had 39,550 ppm of mercury, while Hengxueqian whitening set contains 21,800ppm of the toxic metal.
The three cosmetics, along with five other products bought by EcoWaste, were included in the FDA’s list of 93 banned skin whitening products. Under the Asean cosmetics directive, mercury in beauty products should not exceed 1ppm.
The five others on the list were Care Skin whitening and spot removing cream, Gakadi freckle removing cream, Huayuenong 12 days whitening and speckle removing set, White Advance Hydroxytyrosol L-Glutathione whitening and anti-ageing cream, and a whitening cream in gold packaging showing a red flower with three green leaves with a Chinese label.
EcoWaste said that among the products it bought, 11 had high levels of mercury but were not listed by the FDA. These were Zhjren whitening ruddy combination suit, Zhjren 7-Day beauty elegant moisturising and whitening day cream; Erna whitening cream; White Magnolia intensive repair essence powerful spot remover; Jiaoli speckle dispelling and whitening cream; Gemli freckles cream; Jiaoli Huichunsu freckle cream; Feique herbal extract whitening anti-freckle set; Angel placenta whitening cream; Sanli eliminating freckle cream and LMSER whitening cream.
EcoWaste warned that “users of these products were putting their own health as well as the health of the people around them at risk”.
