Online retail giant Amazon allows the sale on its international platforms of skin lightening creams with mercury levels thousands of times higher than the legal limits, the Zero Mercury Working Group denounced Tuesday.
In a report released ahead of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-6), the platform notes that Amazon’s operations in more than 23 countries, covering over a hundred markets, continue to offer illegal and dangerous products, mainly in countries in the global south, where regulations are less strictly enforced.
Amazon sells cosmetics with mercury, report says
Report accuses Amazon of selling illegal mercury-laced cosmetics worldwide https://t.co/4ULHe3Agux #NDigital pic.twitter.com/G49Yv7SuAs
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This is despite a recent court settlement in the United States requiring it to tighten controls, they add in a statement released by the European Environmental Bureau.
“Citizens of the global south should enjoy the same right to safe products as customers of Amazon.com in the United States. We are not second-class customers. Amazon’s double standards are unacceptable,” said the general director of the Mexican organization Casa Cem, Sofia Chavez Arce.
The study is based on purchases made this year in the United States, France, Belgium, India, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
Of 31 creams tested in accredited laboratories in the European Union and the United States, as many as 25 contained mercury concentrations thousands of times higher than the legal limit of 1 part per million (ppm) set by national governments and the Minamata Convention’s “zero mercury” standard, they say.
Tests conducted in Mexico, India and the United Arab Emirates reveal that numerous mercury creams are still available, while the presence of these products is limited in the United States and the European Union.
“We strongly urge Amazon to globally apply the same requirements for third-party sellers that it imposes in the U.S. This means requiring mercury testing prior to sale and complying with established safety standards,” said Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) coordinator Michael Bender.
The issue will be discussed at COP-6 of the Minamata Convention, which will bring together governments from around the world in Switzerland from November 3-7 to strengthen measures against the use of mercury, a toxic metal that poses a serious risk to health and the environment.
Filed under: Amazon sells cosmetics with mercury
With information from EFE
