MANILA, Philippines —The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the public against the use of seven "unauthorized" cosmetic products that were laced with mercury.
Seven different public advisories were shown on the agency's website against following product brands: 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-in-1 Lemon Whitening Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream Set, and the Feique Snail Liquid Whitening Anti-Freckle Set.
"Potential hazards may come from ingredients that are not allowed to be part of a cosmetic product or from the contamination of heavy metals. The use of substandard and possibly adulterated cosmetic products may result in adverse reactions including, but not limited to, skin irritation, itchiness, anaphylactic shock and organ failure," the FDA said in a statement on Wednesday.
"In light of the foregoing, the public is advised not to purchase the aforementioned violative cosmetic product. Always check if a product is notified with the FDA by using the FDA Verification Portal feature accessible at https://verification.fda.gov.ph, which may be used by typing in the name of the product before the purchase and/or using the cosmetic products," the agency added.
"All concerned establishments are warned against distributing violative cosmetic products until they have fully complied with FDA's rules and regulation."
On Thursday, toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition applauded the FDA for taking action against the seven products and called on e-commerce and online shopping platforms to take down all listings for violative cosmetic products and other FDA-banned products.
"We thank and laud the FDA for duly warning the public about the dangers posed by these unauthorized skin lightening products," the group's national coordinator Aileen Lucero said in a statement.
Also, the group alerted the FDA regarding the online sale of the cosmetic products by sellers operating in China and the Philippines, after they ordered samples and screened them for mercury.
"Equipped with a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), the group detected mercury in all the seven products at levels exceeding the one part per million (ppm) limit for mercury as a heavy metal contaminant as set by the Asean Cosmetic Directive," the group said.
EcoWaste discovered that Sandal contained 12,580 ppm of Mercury, Faiza had 7,110 ppm, while the Feique Herbal Extract Whitening Freckle Removing Cream had 11,320 ppm, with other Feique products having "varying levels of mercury."
According to their packaging, the Sandal and Faiza products were made in Pakistan, while the Feique products were made in China, with the items expiring in 2026 to 2027, and it also indicated that they were made after the 2000 global phase-out target for making mercury-added cosmetics under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, EcoWaste said.
The Pakistani products were also in a health warning issued by the government of New York City in the United States, citing the presence of mercury.
According to the group, the last time the FDA listed toxic cosmetic products was in 2012, and they requested the agency to come up with an updated list of banned skin lightening products, especially those laced with mercury.