New York City Health Department Warns New Yorkers About Skin Lightening Products That Contain Dangerous Amounts of Mercury
Skin-lightening products, including creams and soaps sold over the counter in New York City, can contain high amounts of mercury, a harmful metal.
Health Department has removed 1820 products from store shelves
March 18, 2025 — The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health Department) today warned New Yorkers about 22 skin lightening products, including 15 creams from Pakistan and two from Thailand with elevated amounts of mercury, a harmful metal. These products, sold over the counter in NYC, can contain up to 30,000 times the allowable limit for mercury in cosmetics. These types of products may be used to lighten, whiten or brighten the skin, or remove freckles, spots, marks, acne, under-eye circles and wrinkles. None of the 22 products referred to above listed mercury as an ingredient on their label.
All 22 of these products have been found available for sale in NYC stores. The NYC Health Department is conducting enforcement actions to stop businesses from selling these hazardous products. To date, 1820 products have been removed from store shelves.
“Cultural beauty standards across the world that favor lighter skin tones are among the many impacts of racism and put pressure on people of color to lighten their skin, even if it puts their health at risk,” said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse. “We encourage New Yorkers to be aware that skin lightening products can contain harmful levels of mercury. New Yorkers who have used these products should stop use and ask their doctor for urine and blood mercury testing as soon as possible.”
Mercury in skin products can harm the user. Household members who are not using the products themselves can also be exposed by breathing in mercury vapors emitted by the products and by coming into contact with bed linens, towels or other clothing contaminated by the products. Exposure to mercury can cause serious health problems, including damage to the nervous system and kidneys. Mercury poisoning can also affect a fetus and increase the risk of miscarriage during pregnancy. The NYC Health Department sent an alert to health care providers in NYC to advise patients against using such products.
The NYC Health Department conducts undercover surveys of NYC stores to monitor whether hazardous products containing lead, mercury or other harmful metals are being sold. The Department takes enforcement actions to stop businesses from selling such hazardous products. Since 2021, the NYC Health Department has removed more than 10,000 hazardous consumer products from store shelves.
“WE ACT for Environmental Justice recently purchased online many of the same skin lightening products identified by the New York City Health Department, and laboratory testing measured up to 29,000 parts per million mercury in a single container," said Mae Kennedy, WE ACT’s Global Advocacy and Environmental Health Fellow. "As demonstrated by our collective findings, highly toxic products remain readily available for purchase in New York despite city, state and federal regulations, including New York State’s Mercury Out of Cosmetics law that WE ACT helped pass in 2022. The continued presence of mercury-added skin lightening products in New York City perpetuates racist beauty standards and jeopardizes the health and wellbeing of communities of color. We applaud the New York City Department of Health for pursuing robust investigation and enforcement to relieve the city of these detrimental products.”
The Health Department advises New Yorkers to:
- Immediately stop using skin lightening products known to contain mercury (see Hazardous Products: Mercury in Soaps and Creams).
- Users of non-prescription skin lightening products should also speak with their health care provider and ask for a urine and blood mercury test.
- Do not throw mercury containing skin lightening products in the trash. Place them in a sealed Ziploc bag and take them to a Department of Sanitation SAFE Disposal Event location.
- Call 311 to report sales of these prohibited products in local stores.
- For more information about these types of hazardous consumer products, call 311 or visit Hazardous Consumer Products.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Shari Logan / PressOffice@health.nyc.gov