With Jamaica a signatory to the legally binding landmark Minamata Convention on Mercury to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury, a group of researchers at The University of the West Indies (UWI) are on a campaign to get Jamaicans to reject skin bleaching products containing mercury.

This comes on the heels of their published study which found that some popular skin-lightening products used in Jamaica contain “alarmingly high levels of mercury”, a chemical element that can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs, and kidneys.

The study, which was published in the June 2020 issue of the Journal of Health and Pollution, was supported by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and was conducted by Dr Phylicia Ricketts, Andre Gordon, and Mitko Voutchkov from the Medical Physics Research Group in the Department of Physics (UWI) along with collaborators Christopher Knight of the Mines and Geology Division of the Jamaica Government and Ana Boischio of PAHO.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer last week, Dr Ricketts said researchers analysed over 70 samples of popular products used by Jamaican women under 30 years of age.

“We measured them for mercury and found six products that have elevated levels of mercury,” Dr Ricketts said.

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