BALITANG TOKSIKS! | February 6, 2024
Toxic watchdog group BAN Toxics raises the concern over the unwarranted selling of banned and prohibited mercury-added skin lightening products in the online market platforms. These beauty products such as C Collagen Plus Vit E Day & Night Cream, Erna Whitening Cream, Jiaoli Miraculous Cream, S’zitang 10 Days Eliminating Freckle Day & Night Set, Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene SPF 30 Avocado & Aloevera, Goree Day & Night Whitening Cream Oil Free, Goree 24k Gold Beauty Cream, and 88 Total White Underarm Cream are already banned in the Philippines.
The group has monitored over 1,000 sellers of the prohibited skin lightening products due to the health damaging toxic mercury in online shopping sites such as Lazada and Shopee including Facebook Marketplace.
“We are dismayed that such beauty products still proliferate in the online shopping platforms despite the existing regulations on mercury-added cosmetics,” said Thony Dizon, Toxics Campaigner, BAN Toxics.
Mercury, a naturally occurring heavy metal is known to be severely hazardous to health, even in small amounts. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), kidney damage is the main adverse effect of exposure to inorganic mercury. Mercury may also cause skin rashes, skin discoloration and scarring, and a reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections.
“We urge the Department of Trade and Industry to call the attention of online shopping platforms Lazada and Shopee including Facebook Marketplace to immediately remove the sellers of prohibited mercury-added skin lightening products to protect the consumers from health damaging exposure,” he added.
“The unwarranted selling of banned and prohibited whitening cosmetics violates the existing regulations of the Department of Health, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Minamata Convention on Mercury – an international agreement established to protect human health and the environment from emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds caused by human activity,” the group added.
The public is advised not to purchase the banned cosmetic products. Always check for the FDA notification on products. All concerned establishments are warned not to distribute violative cosmetic products until they have fully complied with the rules and regulations of the FDA.
#BANToxics #NoToMercury #Notomercuryaddedcosmetics #toxicfreefuture