Adventures in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter is mad—as in insane—
because a common milliner’s mercury compound presumably
ravaged his nervous system. Yet hundreds of millions of women,
and a growing number of men, are literally bathing in the stuff.
The use of lightening creams and soaps is pervasive across
large parts of the globe. Asia commands the biggest mar-
ket share; the World Health Organization found that 40%
of women polled in China, India, and other Asian countries
said they regularly used lightening prod-
ucts. Africa is also a big market. In theory,
help should be on the way: An interna-
tional accord to control mercury poison-
ing and pollution, signed by 128 countries,
goes into effect next year. After 2020, the
“manufacture, import or export” of cos-
metics with more than the tiniest trace of
mercury will be barred under one of the
many terms of the Minamata Convention
on Mercury. How that’s enforced is another
matter. There are countries in which the
addition of mercury to lotions and soaps isn’t illegal.
Manufacturers use mercury compounds because it can
inhibit the formation of melanin. Sometimes the skin initially
appears to lighten without an immediate reaction. In the longer
term, however, mercury often produces unhealthy skin of
uneven color. Nerve and kidney damage are next.
The damage doesn’t end with the customer. Much of the
mercury from creams and soaps ends up in wastewater, where
it becomes methylated and enters the food chain. A horri-
ble case in point happened in the 1950s in the Japanese town
of Minamata (from which the convention gets its name). A
chemical plant had dumped mercury in Minamata Bay, where
it was ingested by fish, which were then eaten by the local
people. About 900 people died, and more than 2,000 came
down with a form of mercury poisoning now called Minamata
disease, whose symptoms range from muscle weakness REGUYAL: COURTESY GRACE REGUYAL/FACEBOOK. ADS: GETTY IMAGES (2); ALAMY; AP IMAGEST
he mercury hunters of Manila were on a mission. Having
paid an undercover visit to a neighborhood market, they
returned to their office in an apartment block on the city’s out-
skirts to assess the haul of skin-lightening creams.
At a table in the headquarters of the EcoWaste Coalition,
chemical safety campaigner Thony Dizon readied his investiga-
tive tool: an X-ray fluorescence analyzer, or XRF. He unlocked
the ray gun’s hard-shell case, lifted the device, and aimed it
into a small white jar containing an avocado-colored cream.
The XRF took a few seconds to flash its red light, blast its rays,
and then measure the photons emitted back by the contents.
Blink, blink, blink ... “FAIL,” the device read.
The $5 jar, labeled Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, reg-
istered 23,000 parts per million of mercury, according to the
XRF. A mere 1ppm is considered dangerous. In a second test,
a jar labeled Goree Day & Night Whitening Cream measured
19,900ppm. Both products are banned by the Philippines Food
and Drug Administration, following similar tests by EcoWaste,
but Dizon wasn’t surprised that local merchants were still ped-
dling them. “Business is business,” he said.
Dizon’s group, along with regulators and advocates around
the world, are just scratching the surface of a global mercury
crisis. The element is a frequent ingredient in a fast-growing
market for lightening creams and soaps. The market is thought
to be worth about $20 billion annually, a figure covering legit-
imate and safe (or safer) products, counterfeits of those prod-
ucts, and the cheap soaps and creams that are most likely to
contain mercury. It can be difficult to tell which category a given
jar or bottle falls into. M. Arslan Tariq, general manager for tech-
nology and business development at Goree Cosmetics Pvt. in
Lahore, Pakistan, said authentic Goree products don’t contain
mercury and that the products tested by EcoWaste in Manila are
“100% fake.” He said counterfeiting of Goree products is ram-
pant and the company has lodged a complaint with Pakistan’s
Federal Investigation Agency.
Mercury’s poisonous properties are legendary: In Alice’sReguyal shows the
rash from using
mercury-tainted
products last year◼ Mercury $48.85 / kg 99.999% metal, China marketBy Sheridan Prasso and Vernon Silver Women and men around the world are using
creams and soaps laced with mercuryThe
Skin-Lightening
Scourge
80Hg
Mercury72