EcoWaste Coalition Backs Senator Risa’s Proposed Inquiry on Health Risks Posed by Unauthorized Health Products

Some dietary, sexual enhancement and energy supplements sold online are sold without prior authorization from the FDA.

18 December 2025, Quezon City. The environmental and health watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition has signified its support to the inquiry proposed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros to address the health risks posed by the proliferation of unauthorized supplements and other health products in the online market.

“We are one with Sen. Risa in pushing for strengthened regulatory, surveillance and law enforcement measures that will protect the rights of consumers, especially their rights to truthful product information, safety, choice, voice, and redress, against unauthorized health products that have flooded the local market,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“Skin lightening products with mercury, and dietary, sexual enhancement and energy supplements with banned or restricted ingredients that can damage the kidneys and other organs, continue to proliferate despite the public health warnings issued by the authorities,” she said.

For example, the group monitored last year some 1,146 product listings for mercury and mercury-added products in e-commerce and social media platforms despite the prohibitions under national and international laws such as the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Among the mercury-adulterated products sold online are three variants of FDA-flagged Goree Beauty Cream, which some countries also banned due to their mercury content.

More recently, the group monitored the online sale of a traditional Chinese medicinal patch that has been banned by the Ministry of Health of Malaysia. As per X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) screening by the group, the said product was analyzed to contain 486 parts per million (ppm) of mercury and over 100,000 ppm of lead.

Through Senate Resolution No. 194 introduced on December 3, Hontiveros noted that “the proliferation of unregulated online health products highlights the urgent need to review and strengthen regulatory safeguards to protect public health and consumer rights.”

The senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, cited the alerts made by the Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, and the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care warning consumers “that unregulated supplements and other health products sold online pose serious health risks, including kidney damage and exposure to harmful substances.”

The senator also cited the results of the 2025 Asia Pacific Responsible Supplementation Survey showing nine in 10 Filipinos take supplements, “often without consulting healthcare professionals, and increasingly purchase these products from digital platforms with little or no verification of safety or authenticity.”

Last December 15, Hontiveros thanked Sen. Raffy Tulfo for drawing attention to the online sale of unregulated and unregistered health products. Tulfo had earlier facilitated the removal of several dangerous products flagged by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from online platforms like Lazada, Shopee and TikTok.

In her manifestation, Hontiveros said in Filipino: “Kahit nagbabala na ang FDA at pati ang DOH, at may mga nabalitaan na rin kami na pabata nang pabata ang mga dina-dialysis dahil sa paggamit ng mga unregulated supplements na nabili nila online, mukhang hindi sapat na mag-warning lang. Kailangan talaga na higpitan ang enforcement at pagbutihin ang capacity ng ating mga health and regulatory authorities.”

"We hope the inquiry by the Senate Committee on Health and Demography will push through to help in identifying and fixing gaps in regulation and enforcement, as well as the resources required, to better promote and protect the consumer interest and public health against unauthorized health products," the group concluded.

References:

https://senate.gov.ph/legacy/lis_bills/4854544495!.pdf
https://senate.gov.ph/media/news-release/manifestation-senator-risa-hontiveros-on-unregulated-supplements-and-other-health-products-2