Mercury-laden beauty products still sold in stores, group says

MANILA, Philippines - Beauty products containing mercury at levels thousands of times higher than the legal limit are still being sold in stores despite a government ban, environment watchdog EcoWaste Coalition reported yesterday.

EcoWaste said its members obtained samples of mercury-laced skin whitening products from various stores in Cubao and along Don Mariano Marcos Avenue.

The samples, with prices ranging from P90 to P250, were subjected to mercury analysis on Aug. 18 using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The group found that 90 percent of the samples contained 349 parts per million to 11,200 ppm of mercury.

Under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Cosmetics Directive, to which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) subscribes, the limit for mercury in cosmetics is only one ppm.

“We cannot close our eyes to the deplorable sale of mercury-laden cosmetics that could harm our women and the environment,” EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect official Aileen Lucero said.

She called on Quezon City’s public health and safety officials and the FDA to go after the importers, distributors and sellers of these products.

Of the nine mercury-laden products, six were among the 50 brands recalled under an FDA advisory issued last year.

These six banned skin whitening products are JJJ Magic Spot Cream (with 11,200 ppm of mercury), S’zitang (6,164 ppm), Jiaoli 7 Days Specific Eliminating Freckle AB Set (6,117 ppm), Lan Mei Rou 12 Days Whitening and Speckle Removing Suit (4,858 ppm), Jiaoli Miraculous Cream (3,738 ppm), and Beauty Girl Ginseng and Green Cucumber Essence 10 Days Double Whitening, Speckles Removed (3,635 ppm).   

The other three products with high concentrations of mercury are Special Cream double (1,828 ppm), Special Cream single (1,254 ppm) and Fruit and Lovely Quick Acting Whitener and Speckle Remover Package (349 ppm).     

Lucero said the samples were incompletely or wrongly labeled and none of them listed mercury as product ingredient.      

The World Health Organization said mercury in skin lightening products such as soaps and creams can damage the kidneys and cause skin discoloration, rashes and scarring and also reduce skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections.

Irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, memory problems, depression and numbness and tingling in hands, feet or around the mouth are some of the symptoms of mercury poisoning.