EWG Calls for Amazon, EBay to Remove Mercury-Based Skin-Care Products

The Environmental Working Group, along with other advocacy organizations, has called on Amazon and eBay to remove from the e-commerce platforms a group of mercury-based skin-care products.
The products in question are detailed in public action letters addressed to Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon, and Devin Wenig, president and ceo of eBay. They are primarily mercury-based, skin-lightening products from sellers in Southeast Asia and India and designed for consumers in those markets, but are sold and shipped to U.S. consumers via the Amazon and eBay platforms.
EWG and Mercury Policy Project, a mercury exposure advocacy group, conducted independent research in which they purchased a several skin-lightening creams from sellers in countries such as Vietnam and South Korea, tested their mercury levels and discovered that some contain as much as 30,000 parts per milligram. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1973 banned in most cosmetics the use of mercury at levels higher than one part per milligram. The FDA has found that mercury poisoning can be linked to skin-lightening products containing high levels of mercury.
The EWG, along with 50 other advocacy organizations, signed public action letters on Thursday calling for Amazon and eBay to remove the cosmetics products proven to have mercury at levels over one part per milligram.
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