PROBLEM OF ILLEGAL COSMETICS CONTAINING MERCURY IN INDONESIA

BACKGROUND: Skin lightening products have an increasing demand in Indonesia despite its illegal and safety issue,
including hazardous mercury-containing skin lightening creams. Misperception of beauty may result in a desire to have lighter
skin instantly regardless of the ingredients of products. As a populous country, Indonesia becomes a promising country for
this industry. Due to increasing demand from middle-class society and cosmetic trend change among men, this industry grows
greatly in Indonesia. This study aims to investigate hair mercury concentration to the duration and estimated weight of skin
lightening products applied.
METHOD: As much as 297 participants were given a questionnaire regarding their skin cream application. Hair and skin
products were analyzed by particle-induced x-ray emission (PIXE).
RESULTS & DISCUSSION: The mean hair mercury concentration of users was 20.3±5.4 ppm, 10 times higher than nonusers
(2.12± 2.05 ppm). Of 27 samples of skin lightening creams, eight samples did not contain mercury while others contain
mercury with the mean mercury concentration of 272.26 ppm (0-7834 ppm). Hair mercury concentration exhibited a statistically
significant correlation with the duration of skin lightening cream application as well as the estimated weight of the cream
applied.
CONCLUSION: This study exhibited the presence of hazardous skin lightening creams containing mercury as well as
accumulation of mercury in the human body that has a significant correlation with the duration of exposure and weight of
cream applied.