EcoWaste Coalition: End Impunity to Stop Trade of Hazardous Cosmetics with Mercury
3 March 2025, Quezon City. As the National Women's Month is observed, the EcoWaste Coalition, an advocate for a zero waste and toxics-free society, has turned the spotlight on the unrestrained trade in mercury-containing skin lightening cosmetics as if it is safe and legal to do so.
The unimpeded trade is deeply alarming, the group said, as mercury in cosmetics can pollute the environment and harm the health of users, women in particular, as well as children and other family members who can inhale the mercury vapors released from such products or get exposed by touching or using household stuff contaminated with mercury like clothes and towels.
“We are appalled by the uncontrolled advertising, promotion, distribution and sale of imported cosmetics containing high levels of mercury in e-commerce and social media platforms and in physical stores despite the ban on such hazardous products under the Minamata Convention on Mercury and the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive, as well as in our nation’s health, environmental and consumer protection laws,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.
“In brazen disregard of the public interest, dealers go on with their profit-making activities uninterrupted and seemingly unafraid of the legal sanctions,” she said. “They even mount marketing gimmicks such as bundle sales and price cuts to entice more buyers.”
“The freedom enjoyed by those behind the illicit trade poses a serious threat to health and the human right to a clean and sustainable environment. Going after and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law will send a clear signal that the period of impunity is over," she emphasized. “Through multi-stakeholders’ collaboration and action, nationally and across borders, we can make the marketplace mercury-free."
At a recent visit to budget-friendly malls in Pasay City, the EcoWaste Coalition found several shops fully stocked with skin lightening products such as the three variants of Pakistan-made Goree Beauty Cream that have been flagged by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through multiple public health warnings issued from 2017 to 2023. “These mercury cosmetics are openly displayed and sold in full view of everyone,” the group observed.
Despite the media exposés and perennial warnings, FDA-banned Goree products continue to enjoy brisk sales as can be seen from the numerous Lazada and Shopee product listings, Facebook posts, Tiktok videos and Instagram reels, the group lamented.
To underscore the impunity and the serious health consequences of using mercury cosmetics, the EcoWaste Coalition purchased FDA-flagged Goree products, specifically Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream, and Goree Gold 24K Beauty Cream, from online sellers based in the Philippines and China.
The items bought from an Fb dealer with a warehouse in Tanauan, Batangas, costing P270 each, are similar to the FDA-flagged beauty creams in a round white plastic tub on a square box. However, the ones from China, much cheaper at P112 to P115 each, are packaged differently and without a box.
Equipped with a handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, the group was able to determine and measure the mercury content of the purchased items. For the locally purchased Goree products, the XRF was able to detect 34,050, 30,005, and 29,750 parts per million (ppm) of mercury in Goree Gold 24K Beauty Cream, Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, and Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream, respectively. As indicated on their packaging, the products were manufactured in 2024, way past the original 2020 phase-out deadline of the MInamata Convention for mercury-added cosmetics.
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The three Goree products obtained from a dealer in China were found negative for mercury. This, however, does not guarantee their safety from other chemical substances or bacterial contaminants, which the XRF device is unable to identify.
Mercury is known to have toxic effects on the skin and the digestive, immune, nervous, renal, and respiratory systems, and can also affect the development of unborn babies. Changes in hearing, vision or taste, difficulty concentrating, depression, insomnia, irritability, memory deterioration, shyness, tingling in feet, hands, tremors or around the mouth, and tremors are among the signs and symptoms of mercury exposure. Renal failure may occur in severe cases.
According to the US FDA: “Some people – including pregnant women, nursing babies and young children – are especially vulnerable to mercury toxicity. Babies may be particularly sensitive to the harm mercury can cause to their developing brains and nervous systems. Newborns who nurse are vulnerable because mercury is passed into breast milk.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers mercury among the 10 chemicals of groups of chemicals of major public health concern. “To protect the public health from negative health effects of mercury in skin lightening products, actions are needed that engage different parts of society," the WHO said. .
Among the WHO's recommended actions to address this global problem are establishing or improving legislation, implementing compliance and enforcement strategies, strengthening laboratory capacity, conducting advocacy campaigns, and increasing awareness of health risks associated with skin lightening products, including those containing mercury.
References:
https://www.fda.gov.ph/wp-
https://www.fda.gov.ph/wp-
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/
https://iris.who.int/
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