PRESS RELEASE | April 29, 2022

Environmental watchdog group BAN Toxics calls on the government to enforce stricter measures to prevent the sale of illegal skin lightening creams containing mercury after a test buy operation conducted by the organization in the Province of Davao revealed the continuous sale of Goree.

The test buy operations were conducted in the cities of Davao, Tagum, Mati, and the municipality of Nabunturan, on April 25-28, 2022.

Goree skin lightening products were identified by the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) as one of the creams which exceeded the maximum allowable mercury content of 1 part per million (ppm). 

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) already issued an advisory against the use and sale of Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream and Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, with high concentrations of mercury up to over 20,000 ppm on both products. FDA Advisory No. 2017-289 flagged the two unnotified Goree products due to its high mercury content.

Mercury is listed by the World Health Organization as one of the top chemicals of major health concern due to its toxic nature and adverse effects on human health and the environment. Exposure to mercury and mercury compounds can cause harm to the nervous, digestive, and immune system, and may even cause death in some cases. Dental amalgams, mercury-containing medical measuring devices, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities are the main causes of human exposure to mercury.

The Philippines ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury on July 8, 2020. The sale of mercury-added products is punishable by law according to the Chemical Control Order for Mercury and Mercury Compounds – DENR Administrative Order 2019-20 (CCO-DAO 2019-20). 

BAN Toxics has pushed the Philippine government to take action to curb mercury use in the country since 2007. The organization contributed to ZMWG’s research and monitoring on the illegal sale of skin lightening products containing mercury in online marketplaces in the Philippines.

“As long as mercury-added products are still widely available for purchase in the country, Filipinos will continue to be vulnerable to this harmful neurotoxin. We must fight harder to remove these illegal products from the shelves and to stop its sale and distribution once and for all,” says Reynaldo San Juan Jr., executive director of BAN Toxics. 

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Notes to the Editor:

[1] ZMWG – Skin Lighteners Still Online Despite Mercury Findings
[2] FDA Advisory No. 2017-289 for Goree products
[3] Chemical Control Order for Mercury and Mercury Compounds – DENR Administrative Order 2019-20 (CCO-DAO 2019-20)

Media Contact:

Melendre Heidyl dela Torre, Communications Officer, BAN Toxics
melendre@bantoxics.org | 09175142956