BAN Toxics to Daeteños: ‘Stay “Magayon”, don’t use mercury-added skin lightening products’

Toxic watchdog group BAN Toxics urges Daeteños to stay naturally “magayon” – the Bicolano word for “beautiful,” and to be wary of banned skin-lightening products containing toxic mercury, which are openly sold in some beauty shops and pharmacies in Daet, Camarines Norte.

Recent market monitoring conducted by the group last April 26-28 revealed the continuous selling of Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream, Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, and 88 Underarm whitening creams in stores along Vinzon’s Avenue, J. Coreses Street, and K. Lucban Street. These specific brands have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration since 2017.

“It has been 7 years since the FDA issued a public health warning prohibiting the use and sale of unnotified cosmetic products found to contain toxic mercury, yet they continue to be sold in local stores. This has to end to prevent further exposure not just in metro hubs but in other provinces as well,” said Thony Dizon, Toxics Campaigner of BAN Toxics.

“The unwarranted selling of prohibited mercury-added skin-lightening products shows that illegal trading of banned whitening products has reached not just urban market hubs but also local stores, without fear of existing regulation or concern for the dangers of mercury exposure,” he added.

Mercury is listed by the World Health Organization as one of the top chemicals of major health concern due to its toxic nature and adverse effects on human health and the environment. Exposure to mercury and mercury compounds can cause harm to the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, and may even cause death in some cases. Dental amalgams, mercury-containing medical measuring devices, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities are the main causes of human exposure to mercury.

“As long as mercury-added products are still widely available for purchase in the country, Filipinos will continue to be vulnerable to this harmful neurotoxin. We must fight harder to remove these illegal products from the shelves and to stop its sale and distribution once and for all,” BAN Toxics added. # (PR)