15 August 2024, Quezon City. The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition has requested the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to convene a multi-stakeholder summit to tackle the persistent trade of mercury cosmetics across the country.
The EcoWaste Coalition calls for a multi-stakeholder summit to tackle mercury cosmetics and agree on solutions to end the illegal trade.
The group put forward the proposal through a letter submitted today to FDA Director General Dr. Samuel Zacate and FDA CCHUHSRR Director Engr. Ana Rivera by Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental health group that has been tracking mercury cosmetics since 2011.
“We write to propose to the FDA, the lead regulatory agency for health products, to convene a multi-stakeholder summit to solve, once and for all, the seemingly interminable trade of mercury cosmetics, particularly skin products for lightening the skin tone,” Lucero wrote.
The group presented its proposal as the international community commemorates the entry into force on August 16, 2017 of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a treaty that aims to protect public health and the environment from human activities contributing to global mercury pollution, including phasing out the manufacture, import and export of mercury-added products like skin lighteners.
Exposure to mercury in skin lightening products can have serious health consequences.
More often than not, mercury in such products is present at levels exceeding the threshold value of 15 parts per million (ppm) for mercury waste under the Minamata Convention, putting human health and the ecosystems at serious risk of toxic contamination. In fact, these products should not be classified as cosmetics but as toxic waste, plain and simple, the EcoWaste Coalition pointed out.
“While we fully recognize the past and current efforts of the FDA to address this grave threat to public health, the importation, distribution, sale and use of skin lightening products with undisclosed mercury content persists. It is apparent the FDA needs to muster the support of other agencies and sectors to put this serious health threat to rest,” Lucero said.
“The enormous expansion of online marketing has literally brought these dangerous products to the fingertips of consumers. With their unrestrained advertising and promotion in e-commerce sites, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, these health-damaging products are merely one click away,” she said. In August 2022, the group reported to Facebook Philippines close to 100 sites promoting and offering FDA-banned mercury cosmetics for sale.
Despite the ban on mercury cosmetics globally, regionally and nationally, the EcoWaste Coalition has found over 290 stores selling FDA-banned mercury cosmetics during the group’s market monitoring from January 2023 to August 2024, including 198 in Metro Manila, 10 Cordillera Administrative Region, 21 Calabarzon, 3 Mimaropa, 57 Central Visayas, and 5 Region 10.
In Pasay City, for example, the EcoWaste Coalition obtained last April 2024 these five contraband cosmetics from Pakistan with mercury concentrations ranging from 11,940 ppm to 27,200 ppm: Aima Gold Beauty Cream, Armena Gold Beauty Cream, Pure Pearl Beauty Cream, Zartaaj Beauty Cream, and Zoya Beauty Cream Gold.
Among the FDA-banned products sold with impunity offline and online are Goree Beauty Cream (3 variants) from Pakistan, 88 Total White Underarm Cream from Thailand, Collagen Plus Vit E Day & Night Cream from Indonesia, Jiaoli and S’Zitang facial creams from China, some of which have been banned as early as 2010.
In 2024, following the reports submitted by the EcoWaste Coalition, the FDA banned eight more skin lightening products with mercury content from China and Pakistan, including Hua Shu Li Miracle Whitening & Anti-Freckle Set, Sandal Beauty Cream, Faiza Beauty Cream, Feique Herbal Extract Whitening Freckle Removing Cream, Feique Green Tea Whitening Nourishing Anti-Freckle Set, Feique Cucumber Whitening & Freckle-Eliminating Cream, Feique 2 in1 Lemon Whitening Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream Set, and Feique Snail Liquid Whitening Anti-Freckle Set.
The EcoWaste Coalition views the proposed summit as a platform for stakeholders from the government, industry, healthcare sector, media, civil society and other concerned sectors to:
a. Forge an agreement towards a whole-of-society approach to stop the persistent trade of mercury cosmetics.
b. Develop solutions and actions on various fronts to disable and bring an end to the unlawful trade of mercury cosmetics.
It also expressed its hope that the summit can serve as a launching pad for a multi-sectoral campaign that will challenge the normalization of skin lightening practices among women and men, and advocate for diversity, acceptance and respect for a person’s natural skin color.
The group would like the summit to be broadly attended and supported with representatives from national and local government agencies, business and industry, healthcare sector, media, and the civil society, including environmental health, women’s, youth and consumer groups.
“We are very optimistic that with a whole-of-society approach the FDA and the Filipino nation can truly make mercury cosmetics a poison of the past,” Lucero said.
The EcoWaste Coalition further urged the FDA to consider initiating an Asian summit to draw in government and stakeholder counterparts to develop a regional strategy to tackle mercury cosmetics.
Mercury is among the 10 chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern as per the World Health Organization (WHO). Its use in cosmetics such as skin lightening products is banned regionally through the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive and internationally through the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mercury use in skin lightening products can lead to adverse health effects, including skin rashes, discoloration and scarring and reduced dermal resistance to bacterial and fungal skin infections. WHO had also warned repeated applications of such products onto the skin can cause damage to the kidneys, the brain and the central nervous system.