Resources

Learn what is in beauty products by exploring the Beautywell database and its Knowledge Hub webpage.

The New York City Department of Health Health topic webpage on mercury in soaps and creams lists some skin-lightening creams and medicated soaps that have been found to contain high levels of mercury.

The California Department of Public Health webpage presents information (also in Spanish) and lists of resources on mercury in skin creams.

This webpage from the European Chemicals Agency lists substances which are banned from use in any cosmetic products marketed for sale or use in the European Union.

[ English / Spanish / Hmong / Somali ]

[ English / Spanish / Hmong / Somali ]

[ English / Spanish / Hmong / Somali ]

The project Eliminating Mercury Skin Lightening Products (SLPs) was developed to reduce the risk of exposure to mercury added products through activities targeted at better regulation, reducing production, trade and distribution, capacity-building, awareness-raising

Reinforcing the health sector’s commitment to the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury: The showcase of GEF-UNEP-WHO projects on mercury-added products

This course explores the different forms of mercury and its compounds with their respective sources, environmental distribution, toxicological aspects, and prevention measures. In addition, it introduces the Minamata Convention and Resolution 67.11 (2014) of the World Health Assembly (WHA), and its considerations on public health aspects related to mercury.

The sale and trade of mercury-added skin lightening products (SLPs) have continued despite widespread sampling, reporting, awareness campaigns, and legal prohibitions, including a global treaty ban.

[ English / French ] Protocol for Sampling and Analyzing Skin Lightening Products for Mercury

A project in Gabon, Jamaica and Sri Lanka to eliminate mercury in skin-lightening products is highlighting the challenges faced in achieving that aim. Tatum Anderson reports.

Published by WHO Bulletin, June 2023.  

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Infographic alerting on the general health impact of mercury, in three languages.

Les blanchissants pour la peau qui contiennent du MERCURE sont DANGEREUX

Los blanqueadores de piel que contienen MERCURIO son PELIGROSOS

This report builds upon the previous work of the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) in exposing the toxic trade in skin lightening products (SLPs) laced with mercury. SLPs are sold globally via online platforms and, in this particular case, the focus is on illegal SLP sales by Amazon.com in the United States.

White lies is a series by CNN's As Equals investigating skin whitening practices worldwide. The series will expose the underlying drivers of colorism, the industry that profits from it and the cost to individuals and communities globally.

[ Spanish ] This animation shows a conversation between an older woman and young girl named Lucy, regarding the use of an unlabeled cream from Mexico that the niece uses to remove blemishes and lighten her skin.

Background The Minamata Convention on Mercury (Article 4) prohibits the manufacture, import or export of skin-lightening products containing mercury concentrations above 1 μg/g. However, there is a lack of knowledge surrounding the global prevalence of mercury-added skin-lightening products.

« Pour une couleur de peau », les enfants victimes de la dépigmentation. Video focuses on SLP use on children in Togo and Guinea.

Skin lightening might not be a familiar topic to many Americans, but it is an intensely popular subject globally and in some U.S. communities of color: The hashtag #whiteningcream has over 40 million views on TikTok, and products that are promised to bleach or lighten skin tone are readily available both online and at drugstores.

Children's exposure to mercurial skin lightening agents at any time during their development, from intra-uterine to early developmental life, can lead to severe detrimental health effects. This is because these skin lightening agents contain inorganic mercury as their active ingredient at varying concentrations that exceed acceptable levels.

Mercury compounds are frequently added to skin lightening products (SLPs) because mercury lightens the skin by suppressing the production of melanin, despite substantial health risks. SLPs have received significant attention in the scientific literature—and World Health Organization recognizes that mercury—added to some SLPs—is a “major public health concern.”

The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) has been investigating mercury-added skin lightening products (SLPs) for several years, primarily due to their health risks, their illegality under many national laws, and the prohibition by the Minamata Convention on Mercury against the manufacture and trade of mercury-added SLPs, which generally became effective in 2021.

November 2019 (Revised March 2022) It is an uncomfortable truth that colorism is still pervasive worldwide. In communities of color, beauty standards based on the racist notion that lighter skin is more desirable still hold power.