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29-11-2022, 03:30 PM
By Meera Senthilingam, CNN
A woman in Minnesota lost part of her vision and inadvertently put her entire household at risk of mercury poisoning, most likely from using beauty products containing high levels of the toxic chemical
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"People have no idea," Batdorff, a fellow in medical toxicology who examined the woman in her home, told CNN. "No one intentionally wants to hurt themselves or their family members. But it's out there and you can't see it, you can't smell it. There's no way [for consumers] to know whether [mercury] is in the creams or not because it's not on the labels."
......
Batdorff explained that the most common symptoms she sees from potential mercury poisoning is tingling or numbness in a patient's hands or feet. She described the woman's loss of vision as "a more extreme and permanent symptom."
"She will not recover her vision," Batdorff told CNN. "So being a young woman that now has vision loss is really frightening and pretty concerning."
The toxicologist added that there are likely to be many more people out there who are being exposed to toxic levels of mercury and are not showing symptoms, or at least not yet.
......
The woman's story is one of many in the state of Minnesota and other parts of the US in recent years where women and entire households are believed to have been exposed to inorganic mercury from the prolonged use of skin whitening products that fail to disclose they contain harmful levels of the toxic chemical.
The woman was "incredibly frustrated," said Batdorff. "She had bought things that didn't say lightening, thinking that they would be safe," said Batdorff.
Beauty products containing mercury remain easily accessible in local malls and markets throughout the US and through online retailers, say experts, helped by the fact they fail to list mercury as an ingredient.
......
Screening studies by the biomonitoring team within the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in 2015 and 2019 also found elevated levels of mercury in the urine of multiple people who used skin whitening products, including pregnant women. Previously unpublished results from these studies shared exclusively with CNN show that follow-up home visits for some of these women revealed high levels of mercury vapor in the air -- particularly in their washing machines -- with readings as high as 1,800 and 2,000 ng/m3.
......
"Anyone using a skin lightening product that contains mercury, unfortunately, is going to put the whole household at risk," said Batdorff. "There's no way to make sure that no contamination of the mercury will go to other household members. That's just not how mercury works."
......
"With inorganic mercury it's that chronic long-term exposure that concerns me the most," said Batdorff. "It's more subtle but ends up building up in our system and is hard to eliminate, especially when it gets into the brain ... and once mercury has crossed over into the brain and our nervous system, it can cause a lot of different side effects."
Much much more at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/29/healt...index.html
A woman in Minnesota lost part of her vision and inadvertently put her entire household at risk of mercury poisoning, most likely from using beauty products containing high levels of the toxic chemical
......
"People have no idea," Batdorff, a fellow in medical toxicology who examined the woman in her home, told CNN. "No one intentionally wants to hurt themselves or their family members. But it's out there and you can't see it, you can't smell it. There's no way [for consumers] to know whether [mercury] is in the creams or not because it's not on the labels."
......
Batdorff explained that the most common symptoms she sees from potential mercury poisoning is tingling or numbness in a patient's hands or feet. She described the woman's loss of vision as "a more extreme and permanent symptom."
"She will not recover her vision," Batdorff told CNN. "So being a young woman that now has vision loss is really frightening and pretty concerning."
The toxicologist added that there are likely to be many more people out there who are being exposed to toxic levels of mercury and are not showing symptoms, or at least not yet.
......
The woman's story is one of many in the state of Minnesota and other parts of the US in recent years where women and entire households are believed to have been exposed to inorganic mercury from the prolonged use of skin whitening products that fail to disclose they contain harmful levels of the toxic chemical.
The woman was "incredibly frustrated," said Batdorff. "She had bought things that didn't say lightening, thinking that they would be safe," said Batdorff.
Beauty products containing mercury remain easily accessible in local malls and markets throughout the US and through online retailers, say experts, helped by the fact they fail to list mercury as an ingredient.
......
Screening studies by the biomonitoring team within the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in 2015 and 2019 also found elevated levels of mercury in the urine of multiple people who used skin whitening products, including pregnant women. Previously unpublished results from these studies shared exclusively with CNN show that follow-up home visits for some of these women revealed high levels of mercury vapor in the air -- particularly in their washing machines -- with readings as high as 1,800 and 2,000 ng/m3.
......
"Anyone using a skin lightening product that contains mercury, unfortunately, is going to put the whole household at risk," said Batdorff. "There's no way to make sure that no contamination of the mercury will go to other household members. That's just not how mercury works."
......
"With inorganic mercury it's that chronic long-term exposure that concerns me the most," said Batdorff. "It's more subtle but ends up building up in our system and is hard to eliminate, especially when it gets into the brain ... and once mercury has crossed over into the brain and our nervous system, it can cause a lot of different side effects."
Much much more at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/29/healt...index.html
