In India, skin whitening creams are being used since ages as white complexion has been associated with prosperity and beauty for thousands of years. However, after the post globalisation, India has evolved as a key market of the cosmetic products. Further with the growth of the online marketing portals, now the products across the globe are being flooded into Indian markets. A market research survey reveals that the market for skin whitening creams is constantly growing.
As the mercury is very commonly used in the skin whitening creams and there are enough evidences that mercury-containing skin whitening creams can lead to adverse health impacts, the Minamata convention on mercury also restricted the mercury use in cosmetics from 1st January, 2021 the manufacture, import and export of cosmetics with over 1 ppm mercury is prohibited.
