Zero Mercury Working Group tested 271 products from 15 countries and found nearly half to be contaminated at levels above 1ppm
Mercury contamination is widespread among skin lightening and anti-ageing creams sold on online platforms like eBay, Alibaba and Amazon, a new analysis of hundreds of products has found.
The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) tested 271 products bought in 15 countries over a 13-month period and found nearly half to be contaminated with the dangerous heavy metal at levels above 1 part per million (ppm), the legal limit in the US. The EU, meanwhile, doesn’t allow any mercury in cosmetics. ...
... Mercury is used as a skin whitening agent because it blocks production of melanin, which gives color to skin, and it can be used to remove spots, freckles, blemishes and wrinkles. Some analysts expect skin lightening product sales to reach nearly $12bn globally by 2026, ZMWG said. ...
... “We’re not finding 1ppm – we’re finding products that are hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of times above [1ppm],” Bender said. “These levels are astronomical.”
Most of the contaminated products were not made by large American or European brands, but were found in Pakistani, Mexican, Chinese and Thai brands that are sometimes popular in those regions. ...
... The report comes as public health advocates and e-commerce platforms battle over liability. Companies like Amazon have generally claimed that third-party vendors who use its site are responsible for the product’s safety, because Amazon and similar companies merely provide a platform.
The companies are “evading responsibility,” Bender said.
“They knowingly profit from the illegal trade of highly toxic products,” he charged.
That question is playing out in court in California, where a suit against Amazon alleged the company violated the Toxic Enforcement Act, or Proposition 65, because it sold skin lightening creams contaminated with mercury.
A lower court sided with Amazon, but the California court of appeals ruled last week that the company must warn consumers when they or their third-party vendors are selling mercury-contaminated products, or other goods with some dangerous toxins.
Bender called it a victory that marked a shift in case law away from shielding e-commerce sites from liability, but he noted the ruling affects only products sold in California when national and global strategies are needed. ...
