• You must be logged in to see or use the Shoutbox. Besides, if you haven't registered, you really should. It's quick and it will make your life a little better. Trust me. So just register and make yourself at home with like-minded individuals who share either your morbid curiousity or sense of gallows humor.

Alf

Veteran Member
Bold Member!
Yikes!
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Health officials in Northern California issued a warning on Tuesday after a tainted skin cream imported from Mexico left a Sacramento woman in a semi-comatose state.

The Pond’s-labeled skin cream was found to have been contaminated with methylmercury, a hazardous substance that can cause severe illness and is “extremely dangerous to adults and children,” according to a news release on Sacramento County’s website.

The woman obtained the cream — which is used to lighten skin and get rid of spots and wrinkles — through an informal network that imports the product from Mexico, the release stated.

Health officials emphasized the mercury was not added by the manufacturer, but by another party after it was purchased.

Link

--Al
 
Jesus! Methylmercury is crazy poisonous. Whoever tainted her cream knew what they were doing.
Does it lighten the skin?

Many of the skin lightening products from all over the world contain crazy dangerous chemicals, including mercury. I watched a docunentary on face lightening products from Brazil, it was scary. Too bad people can't just be happy with the color of skin they are born with. :(
 
Last edited:
ISTR a research chemist spilled a drop on her gloved hand and died of it not too long after.
It was dimethylmercury, and the research chemist was Prof. Karen Wetterhahn at Dartmouth. She died 10 months after the stuff went through her glove.
Does it lighten the skin?
Excellent question, Brillig.
Cosmetics
Some skin whitening products contain the toxic mercury(II) chloride as the active ingredient. When applied, the chemical readily absorbs through the skin into the bloodstream.[87] The use of mercury in cosmetics is illegal in the United States. However, cosmetics containing mercury are often illegally imported. Following a certified case of mercury poisoning resulting from the use of an imported skin whitening product, the United States Food and Drug Administration warned against the use of such products.[88][89] Symptoms of mercury poisoning have resulted from the use of various mercury-containing cosmetic products.[27][90][91] The use of skin whitening products is especially popular amongst Asian women.[92] In Hong Kong in 2002, two products were discovered to contain between 9,000 and 60,000 times the recommended dose.[93]

Link

--Al
 
We have another piece of the puzzle, thanks to @The Night Nurse

[...]
The woman, who Fox40.com reports is 47 years old, had allegedly been buying Pond’s Rejuveness cream from Jalisco, Mexico, for 12 years. The item, which is available for purchase in the U.S., claims to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles within two weeks. Her son, identified as Jay, told the outlet that his mother knew something was added to the cream before it was shipped, but that she hadn’t had issues before.[Emphasis added]

Link

--Al
 
Any updates on her health?
Her son has spoken of it:
Jay told the news outlet that his mother is currently bedbound and isn’t speaking.

“You know, she doesn’t speak and we’re not really sure if she’s fully focused looking at us and stuff,” he told the news outlet. “She can’t get up, stand, walk or none of that. She’s just kind of bedbound right now.”

--Al
 
Back
Top