Banned creams with mercury sold in Cebu

Environmental group EcoWaste Coalition has warned the public against buying face creams in 12 retail outlets in Cebu City that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration for containing mercury.

Among the banned items were Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, Goree Beauty Day & Night Beauty Cream and Goree Gold 24K Beauty Cream from Pakistan, and 88 Total White Underarm Cream from Thailand. EcoWaste said the items contained dangerous levels of mercury which it measured using an x-ray fluorescence analyzer.

Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene was found with 26,710 parts per million (ppm) of mercury while Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream product contained 26,310 ppm. Both levels were above the one ppm limit set by the Asean Cosmetic Directive when it comes to mercury as contaminants for cosmetics.