The SUN HK : Lik Sang shopowner gets costly lesson for selling mercury-laden beauty products

21 November 2023

Goree products seized by the Customs & Excise Dept from earlier raids (File)

A Filipina who was caught displaying $420 worth of “harmful” beauty products in her shop, got a costly lesson when a criminal complaint filed against her by the Customs and Excise Department was resolved today at the West Kowloon Courts.

M.F. Ng, 55 years old, not only had to close her 1-Stop Filipino goods shop at Lik Sang Plaza in Tsuen Wan after a raid last Nov. 3 by Customs offiers, she was also fined a total of $5,000 after she pleaded guilty today to two charges of violating the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance.

Magistrate Jason Wan fined her $4,000 for displaying for sale seven pieces of Goree Beauty Cream with lycopene, avocado ang aloe vera, and five pieces of Goree Beauty Cream Oil Free which did not comply with the general safety requirement for consumer goods.

PINDUTIN DITO!

A chemical analysis by the Government Laboratory showed that the products contained 20 milligrams per kilo of mercury, 20 times Hong Kong’s limit of 1 mg per kilo. Since lead poisoning can damage the nervous system, that concentrtion poses a health risk for consumers.

Wan also fined her $1,000 for the same products not having a bilingual health warning required by the law to be posted on their packaging.

Ng, a divorcee who now works as a waitress to support her son and sickly mother, was allowed to pay the fines – minus the $500 she had posted as bail – in two installments until Jan. 22. Otherwise, an arrest warrant will be issued against her, Wan said.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Wan said he issued the penalties after weighing the fact that Ng had a clear record, pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, maintained to police that she did not intend to violate the law, and has closed her shop so she would have less chances of reoffending.

He also noted that the value of the offending items was low.

The prosecutor had earlier said, when asked by Wan, that the penalty for each of the charges is $10,000 fine plus one year in prison.

BASAHIN ANG DETALYE

Wan also declined to impose the customary payment of $10,000 to the Government Laboratory for the cost of analyzing the products, saying their value is so small.