Resources

Using skin-lightening products is not safe. Most skin-lightening products contain toxic chemicals including mercury. Many skin-lightening products tested in Minnesota and nationwide contained mercury levels that exceeded the current FDA threshold of 1 part per million (ppm).

UGANDA - National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) This video present the extend of ASGM in Uganda and its dangers for the health of the workers as well as the impacts on the environment.  

In May 2019, at its fourteen meeting (COP14), the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention decided to update the technical guidelines on mercury wastes Read more on the Basel Convention website

OAKLAND, CA—April 17, 2019—The consumer protection group As You Sow filed a lawsuit today against Amazon.com (Amazon) under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, commonly referred to as Proposition 65.

Stephanie Yeboah started using bleaching creams when she was 14. As part of a new series, Shades of black, she writes about believing her worth was linked to her skin tone and what happened when side-effects kicked in

Report of the Global Mercury Partnership Advisory Group (PAG) 9th Meeting, which took place on 18 November 2018, in Geneva, Switzerland

The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) is a first attempt to conduct worldwide measurements of mercury from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The GMOS is a five year project (2010-2015) funded by the European Commission, leaded by the Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research of the National Research Council of Italy.

The Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) is an international scientific cooperative effort to improve the understanding of the intercontinental transport of air pollution across the Northern Hemisphere.

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is an intergovernmental organization working to improve the availability, access and use of Earth observations for the benefit of society. GEO works to actively improve and coordinate global EO systems and promote broad, open data sharing.

UN Environment's Toolkit for identification and quantification of mercury releases is intended to assist countries to identify and quantify the sources of mercury releases. With the Toolkit, a comprehensive national mercury releases inventory can be developed.

This document provides a suggested approach for collecting and analyzing socio-economic information about the ASGM sector. The methodology has been designed to be used in conjunction with UN Environment’s Baseline Estimates Toolkit, and can help to obtain a holistic understanding of the ASGM sector that accounts for local socio-economic dynamics.

The toxic trade of often illegal mercury-added skin-lightening products is a global crisis expected to only worsen with skyrocketing demand, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Consistent with other research, a new Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) study indicates that a significant percentage of skin-lightening creams sold worldwide contains dangerous levels of mercury.

What are Mercury-added Products? The Minamata Convention on Mercury defines a mercury-added product as a “product or product component that contains mercury or a mercury compound that was intentionally added.”

Presentation given by Lesley Sloss during the Global Mercury Partnership's side event during the Second Conference of Parties (COP 2) of the Minamata Convention.

Presentation given by Peter Maxson on Custom Codes for Mercury added products given at the Global Mercury Partnership's side event during the Second Conference of Parties (COP 2) of the Minamata Convention. 

Presentation given by Arturo Gavilan Garcia on Survey on Harmonized System Initiative of the Global Mercury Partnership given at the Global Mercury Partnership side event during the Second Conference of Parties (COP2) of the Minamata Convention

Presentation given by Yves Bertran during the Global Mercury Partnership's side event during the Second Conference of Parties (COP 2) of the Minamata Convention.

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Research on skin whitening products carried out under component III of the UNEP project "Development of Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA)" in Pakistan. This report covers all the details of research work, undertaken on local as well as international brands of Skin Whitening Creams (SWCs) collected from the markets at main cities of Pakistan.

This report, Mercury in the Global Environment, presents data on mercury concentrations in biota of concern in Article 19 of the Minamata Convention (i.e., marine and freshwater fish, sea turtles, birds and marine mammals), which are extracted from the GBMS database. Mercury concentrations from key biota are presented and compared geographically and taxonomically through Case Studies.

This document outlines proposed revised customs codes for better data and better implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

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This guidance document has been developed as part of a WHO technical series on ASGM and health and specifically addresses how and where health considerations should be considered in the context of National Action Planning (NAP) processes related to ASGM, in particular as required under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

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***Update 2022***

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