QUEZON CITY — Despite the global ban, the EcoWaste Coalition continues to uncover the illegal use of mercury in unauthorized imported products for lightening skin tone and for removing age spots, dark marks, freckles, wrinkles, and other dermal problems.
For its newest toxic discovery this January, which is celebrated as Zero Waste Month, the group announced the detection of 584 parts per million (ppm) of mercury in Aura White Night Cream Intensive Whitening Facial Cream purchased from an online seller for P265. A portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device was used to determine the presence of mercury in the sample. Under the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive, mercury as a heavy metal contaminant cannot exceed the maximum limit of one ppm.
Last Sunday, the group also revealed the detection of mercury measured at 2,447 ppm of mercury in Meyyong Ra (Seaweed) Extra Whitening & Facelift that it bought online for P150. Prior to this, the group on January 11 announced the detection of mercury up to 19,170 ppm in nine imported cosmetics from Thailand, Pakistan, and China. Aside from these items, mercury cosmetics already banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) such as the notorious Goree Beauty Cream (three variants) can still be obtained in physical and online stores.
A “product of Thailand” as written on its packaging, the analyzed Aura White with lot number 08800 was manufactured on October 10, 2024, way past the 2020 global phase-out deadline for mercury-added cosmetics under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
This “intensive whitening” product claims it can, according to the labeling information, “stimulate collagen, reduce wrinkles, tighten skin and look younger, lighten scar and dark spots of acne, freckles, and skin blemishes, seal skin with good moisture and eliminate excess oil.”
Its label enumerates a long list of ingredients, including substances associated with lightening the skin color such as kojic acid and niacinamide. However, no reference was made to the inorganic mercury compounds used in the formulation. Mercury iodide, mercury iodide, mercury oxide, mercurous chloride, ethyl mercury, phenyl mercury salts, ammoniated mercury, and amide chloride of mercury are among the mercury compounds found in mercury-containing skin-lightening products.
“The continued production, importation, distribution, and sale of toxic skin-lightening products adulterated with mercury is deeply disturbing and unacceptable,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition. “Despite the unfaltering efforts of the FDA and environmental health groups, the unabated smuggling of these poisonous cosmetics has not stopped, posing serious threats to human health and the ecosystems. Law enforcement needs to be strengthened nationally and across borders to deal with this toxic menace.”
As explained by an expert from the World Health Organization (WHO), “the damage done by the inorganic mercury salts in skin lightening products goes way beyond the harm done to the skin.”
According to Lesley Onyon, head of the WHO Chemical Safety and Health unit in the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, “they can cause significant damage to the kidneys and the nervous system. There is also evidence of an association with increased anxiety, depression, and even psychosis.”
Damage is not limited to the individual using the product, Onyon said. “People need to understand that they are harming others. For example when creams or skin-lightening soaps are washed off.” Of particular concern is the risk of mercury being released into the environment reacting with microbes to become methylmercury, the most toxic of the mercury compounds.
“There is a significant danger of methylmercury bioaccumulation in fish which, when eaten, can impact children’s neurological development,” she added. “So, while skin lightening may be a personal choice, it has an impact on others.”
To prevent mercury from harming the human body and polluting the environment, the EcoWaste Coalition repeated its call on those seeking to alter their skin tone using chemical whiteners to embrace their natural color instead. “Every skin color is beautiful. Beauty, cleanliness, and success are not defined by the whiteness of one’s skin,” the group pointed out.
The group has already notified the FDA about its latest toxic discoveries.
