Mercury In Skin Whitening Cosmetics

Thony Dizon, EcoWaste Coalition’s (EWC) Chemical Safety Campaigner, talked about EWC’s work against the many risks of mercury in skin whitening cosmetics that are widely sold in Asia.

In the Philippines, skin whitening or bleaching is a big business, and is especially popular among women and girls. However, mercury can directly affect women’s health, especially those of child bearing age. Babies in the womb can also absorb mercury through their mother’s blood.

Mercury from these products can also pollute the environment, getting into water sources and eventually making its way into the food we eat.

EWC actively campaigns against the manufacture, importation, and sale of mercury-laden cosmetics, and has had success in using the citizen science approach to generate useful data from consumers in their work against this extremely toxic chemical.