During the celebration of National Lipstick Day on July 29, a nonprofit group urged the public, especially women, to shun unsafe cosmetic products after it discovered lipsticks contaminated with toxic substances.
The EcoWaste Coalition raised a red flag on “poison lipsticks” after finding cheap lip products, mostly imitation ones, contaminated with lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic way above the trace limits under the Asean Cosmetic Directive.
Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury belong to the list of “10 chemicals of major public health concern” as per the World Health Organization, and are among the “substances which must not form part of the composition of cosmetic products” as per the ACD.
“We urge lipstick users not to buy counterfeit lipsticks and those without proper market authorization as many of such products are laden with heavy metal contaminants that can seriously harm human health,” said Thony Dizon, chemical safety campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition.
He added, “To safeguard consumer health, we request the authorities, particularly the Food and Drug Administration to cause the immediate seizure of the non-compliant lipsticks in cooperation with local government and police units.”
In test buys conducted on July 28 at Divisoria—Manila’s hub of cheap finds—the EcoWaste Coalition bought an assortment of lipstick products costing P15 to P70 per piece from retail stores located at 168 Shopping Mall, 999 Shopping Mall, Divisoria Mall, and Dragon 8 Mall.
Out of 38 lipsticks bought and screened for heavy metals using an X-Ray Fluorescence device, 30 were found to contain at least one metal above the ACD’s allowable limit of 20 parts per million (ppm) for lead, 5 ppm for cadmium, 5 ppm for arsenic, and 1 ppm for mercury.
Lead above 20 ppm was detected in 30 samples with 10 of these samples, which were mostly MAC imitation lipsticks, contaminated with lead in the range of 2,633 ppm to 39,500 ppm.
A counterfeit MAC Mariah Carey #02 lipstick was found to contain 39,500 ppm of lead, 1,865 ppm of arsenic, 372 ppm of cadmium, and 100 ppm of mercury. While a Qianxiu Lipstick #010 had 22,400 ppm of lead, 1,420 of arsenic, and 128 ppm of mercury.
To avoid exposure to lead and other heavy metal impurities in lipsticks, the EcoWaste Coalition reiterated the following safety tips:
Check if the item has the required cosmetic product notification by accessing the FDA website.
Buy from a licensed retail outlet and ask for an official receipt.
If the price looks too good to be true, the product is most likely a counterfeit.
Use less, especially if the product is not guaranteed safe from lead and other contaminants.
Don’t let children play with lipstick.