Quezon City. The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition decried the unlawful sale in San Pablo City, Laguna Province of skin lightening products laced with mercury, a chemical that inhibits the body’s production of melanin but not without side effects. Last Saturday, June 1, the group monitored the sale in six retail stores of four products that have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for containing mercury and/or for lacking valid certificates of product notification.
Openly displayed and offered for sale to consumers aspiring for a lighter skin tone are three variants of Pakistan-made Goree Beauty Cream and Thailand-made 88 Total White Underarm Cream. The FDA first banned Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene and Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream in 2017 and again in 2023 along with Goree Gold 24K Beauty Cream. 88 Total White Underarm Cream was banned in 2021.
Found selling these FDA-banned cosmetics are Bernelli Beauty Shop and Shoparazzi Health & Beauty Shop at P. Burgos St.; Fashion Health & Beauty Shop, A.
Bonifacio St.; Ganda ni Kumare Beauty Essentials, Lopez Jaena St.; and two stores with no signages located at P.
Burgos St. cor. M.
Basa St. and at P. Zamora St.
This is not the first time that the watchdog group found products contaminated with mercury on sale in San Pablo City. In 2022, the group alerted the office of re-elected Governor Ramil Hernandez about the illegal sale of Goree and other FDA-banned cosmetics in the municipalities of Los Baños.
