13 K-beauty products recalled for having toxic ingredient

MANILA, Philippines — The South Korean government banned sales of 13 cosmetic products and ordered a recall as these were found to contain unsafe levels of metal antimony.

 

Antimony at levels ranging from 10.1 parts per million to 14.3 ppm was found in the 13 products, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. These exceeded the permissible level of 10 ppm. 

 

According to the South China Morning Post, some of the products are:

According to The Korean Herald, leading beauty conglomerate Amorepacific issued a statement. It is the maker of Aritaum and Etude House.

 

“We apologize for the incident, we should have put all our focus on quality assurance. We will do our best to prevent similar cases from happening again. Customers who have products on the recall list can visit Aritaum or Etude House stores to get the products exchanged or refunded,” the company said. 

 

Etude House Singapore has similarly issued a statement announcing a recall of the two Etude House products affected. It said the affected products were manufactured and supplied by Hwasung Cosmetics, a subcontractor of Amorepacific.

 

It added that the recalled products were distributed mostly in South Korea.

 

Antimony is a semi-metallic chemical element. Exposure to relatively high concentrations of antimony for a longer period of time can cause irritation of the eyes, skin and lungs. 

 

South Korea is among the top 10 global beauty markets in the world, selling more than $13 billion (P680 billion) in 2017 alone. 

 

The interest of Filipinos in Korean beauty brands is a result of the Hallyu craze or Korean wave. This can be attributed to the rise in popularity of K-pop and K-dramas in the country.