Can vanity lead to mortality?

Fairer skin or a whiter shade of pale – as in dead pale?  

Users of over-the-counter skin whiteners may not know that they could be actually taking an acid bath of sorts.

Environmental watchdog Ecowaste Coalition said 11 of 12 skin-whitening products contain mercury that is above the regulatory limit for cosmetics.

Ecowaste said mercury levels on the tested products were up to 28,600 parts per million, exceeding the limit of one ppm for mercury in cosmetics.

Mercury is considered a toxin that harms the nervous, excretory, and other internal organ systems.

The group said Suzette Lazo, Food and Drug Administration chief, was notified about he  problem and vowed to conduct the agency’s own investigation.

Among the skin-whitening creams that allegedly  exceeded the regulatory limit are the Miss Beauty Magic Cream, Jiaoli 7-Day Specific Eliminating Freckle AB Set Cream, JJJ Magic Spots Removing Cream,  The Flower Woman 7-Day Whitening and Spot and Night Set Cream, and Jiaoli Miraculous Cream,  Sara Glutathione Sheep Placenta Whitening and Anti-Spot Cream, Szitang 7-Day Specific Whitening and Spot AB Set Cream, Beauty Girl Natural Olive and Sheep Essence 10-Day Double Whitening Cream, Miss Beauty Excellent Therapy Whitening Cream, Aichun Beauty Green Tea Whitening Speckle Removing Series Cream, and Aichun Beauty Whitening Freckle Day and Night Cream.

These skin whitening products are mostly made in and imported from China. The samples were purchased from two Chinese drug stores, one cosmetics shop, and two sidewalk vendors in Quiapo, Manila.

If  the Ecowaste’s claims are to be believed, then the FDA should promptly act because the matter is a serious public health issue  

“We are shocked to find high levels of mercury in the cosmetics we tested that ranged from 1,085 to 28,600 ppm, in brazen breach of the country’s regulatory limit,”  Aileen Lucero, Safe Cosmetics campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, was quoted by  a major broadsheet as saying.

Ecowaste also stressed the failure of the manufacturers to include mercury as their ingredients in their labels.

Lucero added that five of these products continue to violate the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009 for the continued sale as these were recalled in 2010 by the FDA for containing excessive mercury.

Meanwhile, visiting Chicago-based scientist Joe DiGangi, who tested the skin whitening products, said mercury should  be considered as a poison and never in consumer products, especially if directly applied to the skin.

“Mercury harms the nervous system, the kidneys, and other organ systems,” DiGangi said.