Skin-lightening products (SLP), also known as skin bleaching products, are used to makes the skin lighter by reducing the amount of melanin in the skin.  Melanin is a dark brown to black pigment in the skin that is increased during exposure to the sun.  The bleaching result is achieved by the use of potentially harmful ingredients such as, among others, toxic mercury compounds.

The health impacts of mercury are numerous including  kidney and nervous system damage and skin problems.  Exposure of the fetus to methylmercury poses particular danger to the unborn child.  

The World Health Assembly Resolution 67.11 (2014) on the Public health impacts of exposure to mercury and mercury compounds: the role of WHO and ministries of public health in the implementation of the Minamata Convention requests the Director-General to facilitate WHO’s efforts to provide advice and technical support to Member States to support the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury in all health aspects related to mercury.

Article 4 of The Minamata Convention on Mercury requires all Parties of the Convention to not allow the manufacture, import or export of cosmetics (with mercury content above 1ppm) including skin lightening soaps and creams.

WHO recognizes that cosmetics and soaps containing mercury remain in common use in many African, Asian and Caribbean countries. WHO together  with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) , Gabon, Jamaica and Sri Lanka a pilot project has been initiated to learn and document some of the best practices including for regulating, analytical capacity and public awareness to scale-up and eliminate the use of mercury for skin lightening purposes.