Wazzup Pilipinas!!
(EcoWaste Coalition tells women: the skin color you're born with is not a flaw to be corrected)
5 March 2025, Quezon City. As the commemoration of the National Women’s Month gets underway, the toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition urged women to celebrate their natural skin tone, stressing “the skin color you’re born with is not a flaw to be corrected.”
The group emphasized that “women do not need a lighter skin complexion to be seen and heard as their brilliance, creativity, courage, and kindness already make them whole.”
The EcoWaste Coalition, an advocate for zero waste and a toxics-free society, emphasized “all skin tones are beautiful” amid its discovery of another imported skin lightener sold online laced with mercury.
During the last four weeks, the group announced the detection of mercury in other similar products it obtained from online sellers, including Nen Fu Mei Yan from China, Rose White & Natural Cream from Indonesia, and Tibet Snow Cream, Yaz Beauty Cream, and Yaz Gold Beauty Cream from Pakistan.
For its latest exposé, the group revealed it detected 1,593 parts per million (ppm) of mercury on a Lianibo Whitening Cream (Night Cream) purchased online for P343. The group used an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device to screen the item for heavy metals like arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury, which are not allowed in the composition of cosmetic products as per the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive.
According to the product label, “regularly used, this cream gives an even and velvety skin tone.”
As explained further in the insert, “it is a cutting-edge product that is effective in whitening black spots, freckles, and various other types of spots.”
As some of the labeling details are in foreign characters, the manufacturer of the product and its place of production cannot be ascertained. As per the lot number, the product was produced in 2026. It will expire in 2029.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, as updated in 2023, set a new 2025 global phase-out deadline for mercury-added cosmetics, which should have been phased out in 2020 based on the original treaty text.
“Adverse health effects of the inorganic mercury contained in skin lightening creams and soaps include: kidney damage, skin rashes, skin discoloration and scarring, reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, anxiety, depression, psychosis, and peripheral neuropathy,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Mercury exposure through the use of contaminated skin whiteners poses distinct and severe threats to women, particularly on reproductive wellness and fetal growth. While mercury can damage the kidneys, nervous system, and the skin itself, it has the ability to interfere with hormones and penetrate biological barriers such as the placenta, making it a major concern for those who are pregnant or planning to conceive.
Mercury in skin lighteners can contaminate the household environment and harm non-users, such as young children who can inhale the mercury vapors emitted by adulterated cosmetics, or get exposed by hugging or kissing persons who have used such products, or by touching blankets, pillows, and towels tainted with mercury.
The EcoWaste Coalition is aligned with the international community in campaigning for the protection of women and children from preventable sources of mercury exposure, such as tainted skin-lightening products.
While pushing for the strict enforcement of the Minamata Convention’s global ban on mercury in cosmetics, the group sees the need to also address and dismantle white-centric beauty standards that drive the demand for skin lightening products laden with mercury and other hazardous chemicals.
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