EcoWaste Coalition Raises the Alarm Over Trade in Mercury-Laden Cosmetics in PH, ASEAN
As
the celebration of the National Women’s Month gets underway, a watch group on
toxic chemicals, products and wastes cautioned the public against the purchase
and use of cosmetics contaminated with mercury, a potent neurotoxin.
The EcoWaste Coalition warned that mercury-laden cosmetics, particularly skin
whitening facial creams, are being sold in the Philippines and other member
states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) despite a regional
ban on mercury above the trace amount of one part per million (1 ppm) under the
ASEAN Cosmetic Directive.
The group cited the ASEAN Post- Marketing Alert Systems (PMAS) Reports
disseminated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Philippines
listing cosmetic products, including 11 skin whitening creams laced with
mercury, that health authorities in Brunei and Indonesia recently banned.
Health authorities
in Hong Kong, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates this year also banned six
brands of skin whitening cosmetics due to their mercury content, the group added
Based on the EcoWaste Coalition’s monitoring, the FDA has banned over 135 mercury-containing skin
lightening creams since 2010, including 80 brands discovered by the
group through its periodic test buys and chemicals in product
analyses.
“The trade in skin whitening cosmetics tainted with mercury in the Philippines
and elsewhere poses a serious health threat to women who are lured into using
such products that are often marketed as remedy to all skin maladies,” said
Thony Dizon, Chemical Safety Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition.
“It is not only teenage and adult women who suffer from mercury exposure
through the use of such cosmetics but also developing fetuses and babies,” he
said.
As indicated in the ASEAN PMAS reports, “nursing mothers are doubly vulnerable
because mercury is passed on to nursing babies through breast milk, which can
affect the baby’s development.”
“People exposed to mercury exhibit symptoms including, but not limited to,
tremors, numbness and tingling in hands and feet, gingivitis or inflammation of
the gums, pink discoloration of the hands and feet, irritability, and
photophobia or sensitivity to light,” the ASEAN alerts said.
According to the report “Mercury in Women of Child-Bearing Age in 25
Countries,” published by Biodiversity Research Institute and IPEN (a global
civil society network for a toxics-free future that includes the EcoWaste
Coalition), “the harmful effects that can be passed from the mother to the
fetus when the mother’s mercury levels exceed 1 ppm include neurological
impairment, IQ loss, and damage to the kidneys and cardiovascular system.”
“At high levels of mercury exposure this can lead to brain damage, developmental
disabilities, blindness, seizures and the inability to speak,” the report said.
To prevent exposure to mercury among women,
fetuses and babies through mercury-laden skin lightening cosmetics, the
EcoWaste Coalition urged Filipinos to be happy and satisfied with our natural
skin tone.
“There is beauty and dignity in our ‘kayumangging kaligatan,’” the group
emphasized.
If whiter skin tone is preferred, the group advised the public to consult with
a licensed dermatologist, and to abstain from using skin lightening products
that lack the FDA-required cosmetic product notifications and are not
guaranteed safe from mercury and other hazardous substances like hydroquinone
and tretinoin.
Reference:
http://www.fda.gov.ph/advisori
http://ipen.org/sites/default/
Hong Kong, Malaysia and UAE articles re ban on mercury-containing cosmetics in 2018:
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/gen
Hong Kong, Malaysia and UAE articles re ban on mercury-containing cosmetics in 2018:
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/gen
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