Skin Whiteners with High Mercury Levels

Philippine environmental watchdog EcoWaste Coalition tested 12 brands of skin whiteners - most imported from China - and found out that 11 contain harmful amounts of mercury, exceeding the 1 parts per million mandated by law. Many of the products tested with mercury content of 1,085 to 28,600 ppm. 

The brands are:
 Miss Beauty Magic Cream (28,600 ppm)
Jiaoli 7-Day Specific Eliminating Freckle AB Set Cream (12,400 ppm)
JJJ Magic Spots Removing Cream (9,610 ppm)
Flower Woman 7-Day Whitening and Spot and Night Set Cream (7,754 ppm)
Jiaoli Miraculous Cream (7,665 ppm)
Sara Glutathione Sheep Placenta Whitening and Anti-Spot Cream (6,210 ppm)
Szitang 7-Day Specific Whitening and Spot AB Set Cream (5,886 ppm)
Beauty Girl Natural Olive and Sheep Essence 10-Day Double Whitening Cream (3,638 ppm)
Miss Beauty Excellent Therapy Whitening Cream (2,304 ppm)
Aichun Beauty Green Tea Whitening Speckle Removing Series Cream (1,820 ppm)
and Aichun Beauty Whitening Freckle Day and Night Cream (1,574 ppm)


[source]

Fake Apple Store

It seems China is faking whole Apple stores - complete with wooden tables, winding staircases, and fake Apple geniuses.


The Bird Abroad blog first broke the story, here.  The pic above is also from the blog. 

DEHP-Tainted Taiwanese Food Products

It has been reported that one company in Taiwan added the chemical DEHP as emulsifier in food products. DEHP is often used as plasticizer. It can affect the testes of boys and is an endocrine disruptor.

The Taiwan FDA identified the products/brands that may be tainted with DEHP:

• Nature House Lactic Acid Bacteria (apple vinegar-flavored lactic acid powder) produced by King Car Group;
• Skinny Dietary Drinks by Chang Gung Biotechnology Corp.;
• Taiwan Sugar Ginger Clam Tablets by Taiwan Sugar Corporation; and,
• Dongli Sports Drinks and Dongli Lemon Sports Drinks.

more here and here

Bursting Melons

Farmers in China are seeing fields with bursting watermelons. Apparently, the bursting was caused by the overuse of growth promoter called forchlorfenuron. 

more here