Mercury-laden and other harmful substances cosmetic products banned

in

THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the importation and sale of cosmetic products from Taiwan and Japan found to have excessive mercury content. "These products contain heavy metal (mercury) exceeding the allowable limit of 1 ppm (part per million). These cosmetic products therefore pose imminent danger or injury to the consuming public and the importation, selling or offering for sale of such is in direct violation of the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009," said the FDA Circular 2010-015 released last Aug. 31,2010.

FDA Director Nazarita Tacandong said the mercury content of the cream-based products pose a danger to consumers. Other investigators have revealed that make-up, talcum powder and bubble bath are potentially harmful substances. Lipsticks and make-up may contain aluminum, a known toxin in humans, to make them long - lasting. Coal tar dyes, the major colouring agent in make-up, can result in dermatitis or skin cancer. Talcum powder is not innocuous. In 1982 Daniel Cramer, MD, reported in the journal Cancer that women in Boston who used talcum powder on their genitals and sanitary napkins had a 328 times greater risk of ovarian cancer. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria highly resistant to therapy, can contaminate mascara and attack an eyeball scratched by microscopic abrasions from soft contact lenses or inadvertent damage by the applicator brush. Blindness can result. Adverse reactions to industrial foaming agents in bubble baths, like alkylarylsulfonate, can cause skin rash, urinary tract, bladder and kidney infections, genital disorders, eye irritations and respiratory disorders. Cosmetics are a low priority in consumer safety since it is wrongly assumed they dont affect our health. Yet skin is not the barrier we once thought.

Many medications are now introduced transdermally everything put on the skin is absorbed to some degree.

by patch. Almost

Most cosmetics are poorly tested, especially for chronic application causing low-grade toxicity. Most have been scarcely tested at all, and only a few out of thousands have had expensive toxicity testing. Consumers who develop reactions rarely complain; they just stop using the product. FDA operatives were ordered to confiscate the cosmetic products. Local government offices were also asked to help in monitoring the presence of the products in the market. Gerard Naval

QUESTIONS: 1.What are some of the harmful chemicals or substances that factories mixed in their cosmetics products? 2. What are the side effects that the consumers can experience in using such products? 3.What are the countries that are banned in the importation of their cosmetic products here in the Philippines.