Stop With The Whitening Creams!

"Stop with the whitening creams!" -- Sarah Meier-Albano tweeted this last January 2011 when Danica Flores Magpantay won the 2011 Ford Supermodel of the World contest.

This is a call for us Filipinos to be proud of our brown complexion since many of our kababayans tend to use these whitening products to achieve a fair complexion like that of Hollywood stars and celebrities. Just take a look at all these Filipina morena beauties -- Miriam Quiambao (first runner-up in the 1999 Ms. Universe pageant), Venus Raj (4rth runner up in Ms. Universe pageant) and Isabelle Daza, just to name a few. We should really be proud of our brown complexion.

Lately the FDA has banned several whitening cosmetic creams from Taiwan, Hongkong and China; because the products were found to contain mercury in excess of the legal limit of “one part per million”. The FDA examinations and subsequent ban were taken in response to claims of antitoxic group, EcoWaste Coalition, that there were beauty products with “atrociously” high levels of mercury content, with some going as high as 28,600 ppm. “These cosmetic products 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 FDA Act of 2009,” FDA said in its Advisory No. 2011-012 issued yesterday. The FDA ordered its personnel to seize all the banned products if found in retail outlets and establishments. Local government units were also asked to help in apprehending vendors of the banned products.

Please take note of these whitening creams.

BIB Night Cream Whitening Cream
Pretty Model Whitening and Freckle Removing (Day Cream and Night Cream-Set)
Pretty Girl 10 Day Special Cream
Pretty Girl Green Cucumber and Ginseng Cream
Liliki Whitening Day Cream
Liliki Whitening Night Cream
New Miss Beauty Magic Cream
Jiaoli Rejuvenation Essence 10 Days Speckle Removing
Jaio Liang 7 Days Eliminating Fredkle AB Set
Jiao Liang 10 Days Eliminating Fredkle AB Set
Beauty Girl 6 Days Specific Eliminating Fredkle Whitening Cream Egg White
Tomato 3in1
and Beautiful Dream Whitening Anti-Speckle and
Anti-Azne Kit

Miss Beauty Magic Cream
Miss Beauty Excellent Therapy Whitening Cream
Dagette and Ramsdell Underarm Lightening Cream
Lanmeirou 12 Days Whiten and Speckle Removing Suit
Berglotus Spot Removing Series
Yoko Gentlemen Cream for Men
Jonathan Clearing Facial Spots 12 Day Cream
The Flower Woman 7-day Whitening and
Spot and Night Set Cream
Sara Glutathione Sheep Placenta Whitening and Anti-Spot Cream
Aichun Beauty Green Tea Whitening Speckle Removing Series Cream
Aichun Beauty Whitening Freckle Day and Night Cream

According to the Department of Health, mercury is a known neurotoxicant, which damages the kidneys and many body systems, including the nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, hematologic, immune and reproductive systems.

So let's stop with the whitening creams. Brown is beautiful!