So, how did you members of the female species celebrate International Women’s Day last Thursday, March 8?
Members of the stronger sex took center stage at this event celebrated yearly around the world. Did we say stronger sex? Yes, you heard (or read) that right! According to research, men are really the weaker sex as women are genetically better than men at fighting off infections and cancer. This is due to the fact that women have two x-chromosomes so that the male immune system simply pales in comparison with that of the female. In the journal BioEssays, research leader Dr. Claude Libert of Ghent University, Belgium refers to statistics that show that in humans, as well as in other mammals, females live longer than males as they are more able to resist infection or tackle trauma.
Long live the women!
Going back to the celebration, Manila District II councilor Numero “Uno” Lim took up the cudgels for women by filing an ordinance imposing sanctions and fines against individuals and establishments selling cosmetics laced with mercury, an extremely toxic chemical. “An Ordinance to Stop the Illegal Sale of Injurious Mercury-Containing Cosmetics in the City of Manila” is zeroing in on personal care products (such as lightening/whitening soaps, creams, lotions). Consistent with RA 9711 or the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009, the ordinance shall penalize individual violators with imprisonment from one to 10 years or a fine from P50,000 to P500,000, or both.
On the other hand, a five- to 10-year imprisonment and a fine of P500,000 to P5 million will be slapped on violators if they are manufacturers, importers or distributors.
“The severe penalties awaiting violators should dampen, if not flush out, the illegal trade of dangerous cosmetics that pose hazards to the health of consumers, especially to women,” says Lim in a statement.
Aileen Lucero, safe cosmetics campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition, observes, “This is an important step in the right direction that we know will protect women and the general public against mercury exposure in products as well as in wastes.”
Earlier, Lim filed a resolution on February 21, 2012 urging the Department of Health “to vigorously assist the Food and Drug Administration in the strict enforcement of the ban on mercury-tainted cosmetics.” This was unanimously adopted by the City Council.
The ordinance seeks “to ensure strict compliance by business and commercial establishments, as well as street, tiangge, and online vendors, to the national regulation banning the sale of cosmetics containing mercury above the limit set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”
What’s the allowable limit?
In line with the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive, the FDA has set 1 part per million (ppm) as the “allowable limit” for mercury in cosmetics.
To go into specifics, the ordinance aims to:
• Halt the illegal manufacture, importation, marketing/promotion, distribution, and sale of untested, unlabeled, and/or unregistered cosmetics intentionally added with mercury and those cosmetic products that do not conform with the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive.
• Promote citizen awareness about the health and environmental hazards of consuming cosmetics containing mercury.
• Ensure the environmentally-safe management of banned, recalled, and/or confiscated mercury-containing cosmetics.
Once enacted, the Ordinance will prohibit:
• The manufacture, importation, marketing and promotion, distribution and sale of cosmetics with mercury in excess of 1 ppm as set by the FDA.
• The sale, wholesale or retail, of cosmetics that have not been authorized by the FDA as required by RA 9711.
•The sale, wholesale or retail, of cosmetics that have not complied with the labeling requirements implemented by the FDA.
• The open dumping, open burning and/or disposal of banned, recalled and/or confiscated mercury-containing cosmetics in regular municipal solid waste.
Violators face suspension of their business license or permit for a period of not more than 15 days for the first violation, 30 days for the second violation, and the revocation thereof for the third and subsequent violations.
The ordinance specifies that all banned, recalled and/or confiscated stocks of cosmetics containing mercury shall be returned to the exporting country/ies at the expense of the concerned importers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers or vendors for environmentally-sound disposal, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance also states that if ownership of the banned, recalled and/or confiscated cosmetics cannot be determined, the same shall be temporarily kept at a secured place for environmentally-sound disposal in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the FDA, and other relevant agencies.
To draw even more attention to this ugly beauty issue, EcoWaste Coalition has invited Dr. Ann Blake, member of the Green Ribbon Science Panel of California’s Environmental Protection Agency, to talk on “Women, Cosmetics, and Toxic Chemicals” today, March 13 in Muntinlupa City and on March 16 in Cebu City. The Muntinlupa forum will be jointly convened by the Food and Drug Administration and the EcoWaste Coalition while that in Cebu will be led by the Office of Councilor Nida Cabrera (chair of Cebu City Council’s Committee on the Environment), the Philippine Earth Justice Center, and EcoWaste Coalition.
Both events will shed light on the major chemicals of concern in cosmetics and why consumers, industry, and regulatory bodies alike have good reason to worry.
Blake worked for 18 years in toxics reduction strategies that include creating criteria for environmentally preferable purchasing, eco-labeling and product rating systems as well as local, national, and international chemicals policy reform.
She has worked with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the over 800 signatories of the “Compact for Global Production of Safe Health and Beauty Products” to implement the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, including substitution plans to eliminate product ingredients known for or suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects.
In a statement, Blake points out, “Cosmetic ingredients are ubiquitous in our bodies and the environment. The impacts of long-term, multiple chronic exposures are unknown, but recent science indicates cause for concern, particularly around heavy metals, persistent and bioaccumulative ingredients, and hormone-disrupting chemicals. These chemicals are of particular concern for women, who have both higher exposure and higher accumulation of contaminants, as well as for fetuses and children at critical windows of development.”
She adds, “All of us, however, are impacted in various ways by environmental exposures to chemicals, particularly those from products we apply to our bodies daily,”
Blake will also give an overview of existing global regulation of cosmetic and personal care product ingredients. She will review the strengths and weaknesses of the regulation in the US, the European Union, Canada, Japan, and the ASEAN nations. She will also share info on local and state regulations and NGO efforts that have served as the basis for new proposals for US regulation, including the Safe Cosmetics Act introduced this year.
So, next time you buy a beauty product, stop, look, and read the label.
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