Overview
Bamidele and colleagues measured hydroquinone, mercury and arsenic in ten skin-lightening cosmetics bought in Ilorin, Nigeria. Every product contained mercury and arsenic, and three exceeded the 1 µg/g mercury limit the authors cite. Only the lowest and highest values, plus one further arsenic value, are printed; the rest are in a bar chart.
Key numbers
- Mercury: “0.08 to 2.52 μg/g”, highest in product C and lowest in product J (Results, p. 9).
- Arsenic: “0.07 and 5.3 µg/g” in products B and F, and “2.68 μg/g” in product H (Results, p. 9).
Methods (brief)
Half-gram portions were digested in nitric and perchloric acids. Mercury was read by cold-vapour AAS and total arsenic by hydride-generation AAS, with solution detection limits of 0.5 and 1.0 µg/L. Blank-matrix spikes were used; no certified reference material is reported.
Evidence Fitness
Ten products, single results, and most per-product values are figure-only. Skin-lightening creams are a proxy for cosmetic-clay, which is not linked; the products are directly relevant to skin-lightening creams.