A decade after regulators banned mercury in skin-lightening cosmetics, top retailers' websites still offer toxic skin bleachers containing the heavy metal, a Reuters investigation has found.

The finding lands in a category that compliance teams and e-commerce buyers treat as settled ground. Mercury compounds — including mercury chloride and ammoniated mercury historically listed in skin whiteners — have been prohibited in cosmetics across major jurisdictions for years, and the global Minamata Convention on Mercury specifically targets mercury in skin-lightening products. Yet the Reuters report shows enforcement at the online-retail layer has not kept pace with the statutory ban.

For formulators and regulatory affairs staff, the story is less about INCI lists and more about the supply chain's weakest link: third-party marketplace listings. Platform marketplaces aggregate millions of SKUs from independent sellers, and screening for banned actives is inconsistent even where national law is unambiguous.

What does the finding mean for compliance and procurement?

• Banned chemistry still reaching consumers. Mercury-based bleaching creams carry documented risks of kidney damage and skin damage; a decade-old prohibition has not eliminated availability on high-traffic retail sites.

• Marketplace liability is under fresh scrutiny. Retailers that host third-party listings face renewed pressure to verify seller compliance, not just first-party assortment.

• Enforcement gap, not regulatory gap. The Reuters reporting frames the problem as persistence after the ban, meaning the rulebook exists but pre-market screening of online listings does not function equivalently.

Why mercury bleachers persist online

Skin-lightening demand remains strong in many markets, and mercury is cheap and fast-acting as a melanin suppressor — which is precisely why regulators banned it. Legitimate suppliers have moved to compliant alternatives such as niacinamide, arbutin derivatives and vitamin C analogues, leaving an illicit tail of products that migrates to wherever listing controls are thinnest.

The Reuters finding that major retailers' websites still carry these products a full ten years after the ban suggests platform-level chemical screening — where it exists — is reactive rather than systematic, typically triggered by consumer complaints or media exposure rather than pre-listing verification.

What to watch next

Expect retailers named or implicated in the reporting to accelerate delisting and supplier audits, and watch for regulatory follow-up in jurisdictions that enforce mercury-in-cosmetics rules. The next data point to track: whether platform operators move to mandatory certificate-of-analysis checks for skin-lightening SKUs before they go live.