FDA bans 8 beauty products from Japan

MANILA, Philippines - Eight Japanese beauty products containing substances that can cause uneven skin coloring have been banned.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled the market authorization for Kanebo-manufactured Kanebo Blanchir Superior, Suisai, Twany, Impress, Aqualeaf, Lissage, E’quipe and Suqqu and their 24 variances for containing rhododenol or 4HPB.

“Rhododenol (is) a substance contained in the skin whitening or brightening products that was developed by Kanebo and has been reported or implicated to cause white blotches and uneven coloring of the skin,” read an FDA advisory.

The FDA ban was in response to the voluntary recall of Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., Lissage Ltd. and E’quipe Ltd. last July 4.

The recall covers the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. 

FDA stand on GMO rebuffed

The  FDA was rebuffed yesterday for claiming that genetically modified organisms (GMO) in the market have met international food standards and are as safe as food derived from conventional crops.

Greenpeace said the FDA must stop feeding the public with propaganda.

Daniel Ocampo, sustainable agriculture and genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said the FDA must stop misleading the public into thinking that field trials of GMOs are safe and pose no risks to the environment.

“They are not truthful in saying that GMOs are safe for consumption,” he said.

“There is no scientific proof that GMOs pose no danger to human health and the environment. Even the scientific community is divided on whether GMOs are safe.”

The FDA made the  pronouncement last week based on the Codex Alimentarius, the United Nations’ regulations on the safety of GMO food.

However, Greenpeace said these are just protocols and guidelines for risk assessments of GMOs, and that no existing standards have been set for consumption of GMO ingredients in food.

Currently, 62 GMOs are imported and fed to Filipinos without their knowledge and consent.

Eight kinds of GMOs are allowed for propagation without farmers’ and consumers’ full understanding of its long-term impact to their health and the environment.

In a letter, Greenpeace asked the FDA to be more forthright in providing public information on the propagation of GMOs.

It must disclose that 80 percent of GMOs in the world are planted only in four countries: the US, Canada, Brazil and Argentina, Greenpeace added.

In the European Union, governments have set very strict regulations and have banned the importation and propagation of GMOs.

Ocampo said Filipinos have a right to know about what goes into the food they eat.  – With Rhodina Villanueva