Banned mercury still widely used in skin creams
Judging from local TV advertising, whitening creams must be one of Thailand’s most sought-after products.
It is a highly competitive business and the cosmetic companies that sell the creams are constantly looking for new substances to make the skin look whiter and fresher.
They all should know, however, that one whitening substance to avoid is mercury. It works – blocking the production of skin-colouring melanin – but it also has nasty side effects. The prolonged use of products containing mercury can lead to inflammation of the liver, kidneys and urinary tract.
Disturbingly, research by consumer groups has found that up to 20% of whitening creams studied are highly contaminated with mercury.
The Foundation For Consumers and the Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand (Earth) yesterday released findings of the study after conducting experiments on 47 different kinds of whitening creams sold across the country.
Jutamas Suppradid, a researcher at Earth, said the product with the highest amount of mercury contained 99,070 parts per million of mercury, despite the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bans the use of the toxic substance in cosmetics.
Some of the products found contaminated were FC Rice Milk Cream, White Rose Sheep Placenta Cream, Best Beauty Pearl Cream and Baby Face Cream. Manufacturers have been told to remove them from the market.