Skin Whitening Creams Investigation in Chicago

The Chicago Tribune recently conducted an investigation into what ingredients skin whitening creams available to Chicago residents had in them. Skin bleaching products are aimed at treating problems such as age spots, freckles, whitening dark skin and dealing with acne scars.

The rather shocking finding of this Tribune inquiry was that six of the tested products had levels of the potentially toxic chemical mercury in excess of that allowed by federal law. Out of these six products, five of them contained sufficient mercury to possibly cause kidney damage in humans.

The chemical responsible for hair and skin pigmentation in humans is called melanin. Mercury, also commonly known as quicksilver, is used in skin bleaching creams and products because it blocks melanin production. However, mercury is readily absorbed through human skin and this can lead to various degrees of mercury poisoning and its associated complications.

Only a few of the skin whitening products included in the probe were ordered online. One of the most popular online skin lightening creams Civant Meladerm was not on the list. As Civant Skin Care goes to great lengths to advertise their all natural ingredients and prominently state that mercury is not present, the investigators obviously did not feel it was a good candidate for inclusion.

Users of Meladerm are no doubt grateful that they wisely chose to invest in a skin whitening product from a US based company, which not only contains no mercury, but also contains no hydroquinone, no mineral oil and no parabens.