{"id":22729,"date":"2026-06-01T15:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?p=22729"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:15:17","slug":"fda-warns-consumers-of-skin-products-containing-mercury-and-or-hydroquinone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2026\/06\/01\/fda-warns-consumers-of-skin-products-containing-mercury-and-or-hydroquinone\/","title":{"rendered":"FDA Warns Consumers of Skin Products Containing Mercury and\/or Hydroquinone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers about the use of over-the-counter (OTC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/consumers\/health-fraud-scams\/skin-facts-what-you-need-know-about-skin-lightening-products?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\">skin lightening products<\/a>. These products can contain high levels of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/public-health-toxicology\/mercury\/\">mercury<\/a> and\/or hydroquinone that can cause serious health effects including kidney damage, neurological damage, and skin problems. Consumers should talk to their health care provider about treatment options for aged or dark spots as there are no FDA approved OTC skin lightening products.<\/p>\n<h3>Exposure from Virginia<\/h3>\n<p>In 2010, the Virginia Department of Health and California Department of Public Health investigated relatives in Virginia and California that used skin-lightening cream produced in Mexico containing mercury. Symptoms of exposure reported included numbness, tingling, dizziness, forgetfulness, headaches, and depression. A link to epidemiologic and environmental investigations can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/preview\/mmwrhtml\/mm6102a3.htm\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For more information and a list of skin lightening products tested by FDA laboratories and found to contain mercury and\/or hydroquinone, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/consumers\/health-fraud-scams\/fda-warns-consumers-skin-products-containing-mercury-andor-hydroquinone?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\">FDA Warns Consumers of Skin Products Containing Mercury and\/or Hydroquinone | FDA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers about the use of over-the-counter (OTC) skin lightening products. These products can contain high levels of mercury and\/or hydroquinone that can cause serious health effects including kidney damage, neurological damage, and skin problems. Consumers should talk to their health care provider about treatment options for aged or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":719,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[20,184],"class_list":["post-22729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-toxnews","tag-mercury","tag-skin-lightening-cream"],"modified_by":"cassandragabbert","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FDA Warns Consumers of Skin Products Containing Mercury and\/or Hydroquinone - Environmental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2026\/06\/01\/fda-warns-consumers-of-skin-products-containing-mercury-and-or-hydroquinone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FDA Warns Consumers of Skin Products Containing Mercury and\/or Hydroquinone - Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers about the use of over-the-counter (OTC) skin lightening products. These products can contain high levels of mercury and\/or hydroquinone that can cause serious health effects including kidney damage, neurological damage, and skin problems. 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