A decade after mercury ban, toxic skin bleachers still sold online

Regulators, companies and multinational entities have for years tried to coordinate efforts to take these products off shelves and websites

More than 20 banned skin-bleaching products containing mercury are available for purchase on third-party marketplaces run by Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop in several countries, despite decades of efforts by health advocates and regulators to prevent their sale, a Reuters review of publicly available information found.

Regulators, companies and multinational entities have for years tried to coordinate efforts to take these products off shelves and websites. More than 150 nations are parties to the 2013 Minamata Convention that banned the manufacture, import or sale of mercury-containing products, which according to the World Health Organization can damage the kidneys, brain and nervous system.

But some sellers on e-commerce sites have become more sophisticated in their efforts to hide these products' origins and ingredients. Some products removed from websites are being re-listed under misleading names or by different sellers soon after, the Reuters review found.

Reuters found more than 20 products from banned lists available to customers on Amazon, Temu and TikTok's US e-commerce platforms, as well as on Amazon's third-party marketplaces in France, India, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium, as of September 1. None of the products list mercury as an ingredient. Reuters couldn't independently confirm the presence of the toxin.

Despite mercury's toxicity, these products find buyers because of their swift effects. Skin lightening is a multibillion-dollar industry, especially popular in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, lawyers, academics and public health advocates noted.