Pasay LGU Requested to Get Tough on Retailers Selling Banned Products with Hazardous Ingredients

Samples of illegal skin whitening cosmetics, slimming products and insecticides that are being sold in Pasay City.

A watchdog group for chemical safety and public health urged the Pasay City Government to flex its muscles against traders of consumer products banned for containing dangerous ingredients.

Through a letter sent to Mayor Antonino G. Calixto on Monday, the EcoWaste Coalition alerted the Pasay City authorities about the unlawful sale in discount malls in Baclaran and Libertad of products without the required notification or registration from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

“Based on our on-the-spot market monitoring last Sunday, we saw several stores operating in discount malls that are selling FDA-banned products,” said Thony Dizon, Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.

The banned products being sold at retail outlets in Victory Pasay City Mall and Wellcome Plaza in Libertad, and the Baclaran LRT Plaza Mall, Bagong Milenyo Plaza Mall,  Jinbao Super Center, Merwin Mart and Two Shopping Center in Baclaran include skin whitening cosmetics, slimming or weight-loss products and insect killers.

Among these prohibited goods were Golden Pearl Beauty Cream from Pakistan and variants of Jiaoli and S’zitang skin whitening cosmetics from China that the FDA had banned for containing mercury, a toxic metal that can cause damage to the brain and the central nervous systems, the skin and the kidneys.

A store at Bagong Milenyo Plaza Mall sells FDA-banned Golden Pearl Beauty Cream from Pakistan

Banned slimming products such as Brazilian Slimming Coffee, Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee an Leisure Burn Body Fat Orange Juice were also found on sale despite being banned by the FDA for containing unauthorized ingredients like sibutramine, a pharmaceutical ingredient that can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. 

A store at Wellcome Plaza Mall sells FDA-banned slimming products.

Also, the group found retailers selling smuggled household insecticides with no product registration from the FDA, including Baolillai, Big Bie Pai, Butiki, General Toad and Tianshi insect killers in aerosol cans.

A store at Baclaran LRT Plaza Mall sells boxes of FDA-banned household insecticides from China.

3F Trade Center at Two Shopping Center sells unregistered insect killers such as aerosol insecticides and mosquito coils.

The EcoWaste Coalition requested Mayor Calixto to initiate immediate law enforcement operations to protect consumers from being deceived and harmed by their uninformed consumption of such banned  products.  

The group also requested the mayor to organize a meeting among the managers of discount malls operating in the city, as well as with mall and street vendors’ associations,  to orient them on the prohibition against selling FDA-covered products  that have no certificate of product notification or registration from the agency.

“With the active cooperation of the mayor’s office and the city health office, we can expect the Pasay City Government to make headway in protecting consumers against unsafe products that can damage their health and future,” Dizon said.

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