Resources

IUCN NL, 2020

CBC's Marketplace tests popular skin-lightening products sold in Canada to find out if the ingredients are as toxic as the marketing. Our investigation reveals some products contain alarming levels of harmful ingredients, including mercury, hydroquinone and steroids. Some of these chemicals are possible carcinogens and can cause severe skin issues with prolonged use.  

Through the Chemical Safety and Health Unit, WHO works to establish the scientific basis for the sound management of chemicals, and to strengthen national capabilities and capacities for chemical safety. Mercury is a chemical of major public health concerns.

In the past few years, FDA and state health officials have discovered numerous products marketed as skin lighteners that contain mercury, and there have been cases in which people exposed to such products have had mercury poisoning or elevated levels of mercury in their bodies.

The overall goal of this document is to provide guidelines for conducting a rapid environmental assessment of mercury release, fate and transport through the environment due to ASGM activities. The primarily audience includes countries that develop NAPs for ASGM.

Therefore, to address this growing challenge, coordinated compliance mechanisms are needed at the local, national, regional and global levels. The ultimate goal of this publication is to improve consumer protection by targeting unsafe products and accelerating their removal from commerce before they are sold to consumers.

Effects of mercury poisoning can be devastating, with symptoms including seizures, memory, vision and hearing loss, and development disorders. Explore mercury's trade routes in this interactive story.

The planetGOLD programme works in partnership with governments, the private sector, and ASGM communities in nine countries to significantly improve the production practices and work environment of artisanal and small-scale miners.

Report of the Global Mercury Partnership Advisory Group (PAG) 10th Meeting, which took place on 23 November 2019, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Environmental concentrations of mercury (Hg) have increased three-fold globally due to human industrial activities. This inorganic mercury enters ecosystems through the air (e.g., from coal-fired power plants and incinerators), water (e.g., from chlor-alkali facilities and artisanal small- scale gold mining), and land (e.g., from landfills and other contaminated sites).

This information sheet provides an overview of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Mercury Partnership for prospective partners.

Mercury-containing skin lightening products are hazardous to health and as a result have been banned in many countries. Even in some countries where such products have been banned, they are still advertised and available to consumers via the Internet and other means.

The Oscar award-winning actress' debut kids' book is about a young black girl who doesn’t think she's beautiful.

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This summary document presents the main findings of the technical document in plain language. Recognizing the relevance of the results of the Global Mercury Assessment 2018 for policy makers, this section presents key findings of highest policy relevance.

This update to the Global Mercury Assessment 2013 provides the most recent information available for the worldwide emissions to air, releases to water, and transport of mercury in atmospheric and aquatic environments.

The Technical Background Report to the Global Mercury Assessment 2018 was produced by an international team of experts convened through a collaboration between UN Environment and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP).

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The report discusses the challenges and solution encountered by countries developing National Action Plan for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM).

This paper explores the gendered contexts of artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa, and traces how women are likely to be excluded from current policy pushes to formally regulate the sector.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.

The Convention was adopted on 10 October 2013 at Kumamoto (Japan) on the occasion of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Minamata Convention on Mercury held from 7 to 11 October 2013 and entered into force on 16 August 2017. 

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This publication was developed to guide health ministries4 in planning measures to implement the health-related articles of the Minamata Convention and to protect public health from exposure to mercury. It will guide health ministries to plan not only obligatory measures under the Convention but voluntary measures as well.

The 14th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP 2019) was held in Krakow, Poland from 8 to 13 September 2019 and conved under the theme: "Bridging knowledge on global mercury with environmental responsibility, human welfare and policy response". The conference consisted of plenary lectures, as well as oral and poster sessions.

World Chlorine Council Reporting

Skin lightening creams & soaps have mercury in them. Mercury is dangerous and bad for people’s health. Mercury in open skin lightening products can also harm other people in the home or store.

[ Spanish ] El propósito de este documento es servir como una guía para el almacenamiento y el buen manejo del mercurio en posesión de las fuerzas militares colombianas en los casos de incautación en zonas mineras o entregas voluntarias