{"id":116890,"date":"2025-01-23T14:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T13:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=116890"},"modified":"2025-01-23T16:39:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:39:21","slug":"about-time-european-parliament-finally-greenlights-negotiations-on-water-pollutants-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/libreville-declaration\/","title":{"rendered":"NGOs Support Libreville Declaration to End Mercury-added Skin Lightening Cosmetics\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"

Libreville, Gabon<\/span><\/b>\u2014On Wednesday 22<\/span>nd<\/span> January, 2025, Ministers adopted a declaration calling for the elimination of mercury-added skin lightening products [1]. Non-government organisations from Africa and across the globe applauded the Ministers high level call to zero out mercury in skin lightening products.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe applaud Gabon for taking the lead on behalf of the African region to strengthen bans on production and trade of skin lighteners by also curtailing marketing and sales,\u201d said Dominique Bally, Centre Africain pour la Sant\u00e9 Environnementale, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, \u201cToxic cosmetics are a global health risk that requires coordinated international action to curtail.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Minamata Convention [2] and governments around the globe have banned the manufacture and trade of mercury-added cosmetics due to health risks. Several African countries have adopted policies to do so, including Gabon, Cameroon, South Africa, Kenya, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, and South Sudan. <\/span>Despite this, however, mercury-added skin lighteners continue to be sold in local markets\/stores and increasingly on the internet.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, the African region has taken a leadership role in phasing out mercury in products, including in lighting, dentistry and now skin lightening cosmetics,\u201d said Rico Euripidou, Groundwork, South Africa. \u201c<\/span><\/i><\/b>The Declaration reflects the willingness of many African countries to drive the mercury change envisioned by the Minamata Convention in their countries.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Testing conducted by the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) indicates that hundreds if not thousands of them are available in the global market [3]. Products tested in a variety of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Europe and North America have contained from less than 1 to 57,000 parts per million (ppm) mercury.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a really strong link between racism and the use of cosmetics, particularly skin-lightening creams,\u201d said Gilbert Kuepouo, CREPD, Cameroon. \u201cMuch of this comes from colorism, with the deliberate targeting of harmful products to people of color to fulfill the socio-cultural influences and prioritization of Euro-centric beauty standards.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mercury is a persistent neurotoxin that can cause severe adverse health effects<\/span> via absorption through the skin, inhalation or orally [4]. Due to its ability to vaporize, mercury in cosmetics poses a risk not only to the consumer but also to others in the home. Infants, children, and the developing fetus are particularly vulnerable to the neurodevelopmental effects of mercury. <\/span>Long-term exposure may damage the eyes, lungs, kidneys, digestive, immune and nervous systems.\u202f\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe upcoming Minamata Convention Sixth Conference of the Parties scheduled for later this year should endorse this forward-looking initiative and adopt a programme of work to tackle mercury added cosmetics and <\/span><\/i><\/b>#MakeMercuryHistory<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u201d said Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, European Environmental Bureau and ZMWG International Co-coordinator.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mercury is added to skin lightening products because it lightens the skin by suppressing the production of melanin. Skin-lighteners are sold as creams, lotions and soaps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPoisoning people for profits must stop.\u202fWe strongly support Gabon\u2019s role in taking a leadership role on this issue, not only for the continent, but the world to end this toxic nightmare,\u201d said Michael Bender, Mercury Policy Project and ZMWG International Co-coordinator.\u202f<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

[ENDS]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information:<\/span><\/b>\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] The Libreville Declaration on Eliminating Mercury Added Skin Lightening Creams will soon be available online. The Gabon Prime Minister\u00a0Raymond Ndong Sima, hosting the workshop, released a press release on 22 January 2025 commenting on the workshop:\u00a0https:\/\/www.primature.gouv.ga\/2-actualites\/1413-sante\/2427-depigmentation-le-gouvernement-sonne-lalerte-\/<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

[2] The Minamata Convention: <\/span>https:\/\/mercuryconvention.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2021-06\/Minamata-Convention-booklet-Sep2019-EN.pdf<\/span><\/a>\u202f<\/span>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] The Zero Mercury Working Group Skin Lightening Campaign: <\/span>www.zeromercury.org\/mercury-added-skin-lightening-creams-campaign<\/span><\/a>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] <\/span>Numerous peer-reviewed studies confirm the negative impacts of mercury added SLPs on human health. Moreover, the World Health Organization has recognized that mercury is a \u201cmajor public health concern,\u201d(<\/span>https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/i\/item\/9789240023567<\/span><\/a> and has outlined its concerns about SLPs in a fact sheet (<\/span>https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/i\/item\/9789240023567<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/span><\/b>\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dominique Bally<\/span><\/b>, CASE, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, T: +225 07 08 10 52 67\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rico Euripidou<\/span><\/b>, groundwork, South Africa, T: +27 83 519 3008\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gilbert Kuepouo<\/span><\/b>, CREPED, Cameroon, T: +237 6 77 20 22 71\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elena Lymberidi-Settimo<\/span><\/b>, EEB\/ZMWG, Europe, T:+32 496 532818\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andreas Budiman<\/span><\/b>, EEB communications officer, Europe, T: +32460952002<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Bender<\/span><\/b>, MPP, USA, T<\/span>\u202f<\/span>: +1 802 223 9000<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Libreville, Gabon\u2014On Wednesday 22nd January, 2025, Ministers adopted a declaration calling for the elimination of mercury-added skin lightening products [1]. Non-government organisations from Africa and across [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":44054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,3,4],"tags":[52,886,50,932,523],"class_list":["post-116890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mercury","category-news","category-press-release","tag-chemicals","tag-environment","tag-mercury","tag-priority-substances","tag-zero-mercury"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Mercury-2-web.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}