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Committee lays over $100,000 biennial grant for Beauty Well Project to tackle toxic skin-lightening products
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Summary
House File 1885 would appropriate $100,000 in FY2026 and $100,000 in FY2027 to the Minnesota Department of Health for the Beauty Well Project to run outreach, education and testing addressing skin-lightening products that contain mercury and other toxic ingredients; multiple community organizations testified in support and the bill was laid over.
Representative Perez Vega presented House File 1885, a bill to appropriate $100,000 in fiscal year 2026 and $100,000 in fiscal year 2027 to the commissioner of health for the Beauty Well Project for public awareness and education on colorism and the chemical exposures associated with skin-lightening products.
Amira Adawi, executive director of the Beauty Well Project, said testing by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health found mercury levels in some products that far exceed the FDA threshold of one part per million; she described range of detected mercury up to thousands of parts per million and said MDH saw 10 reported mercury exposure cases last year, including children. "Exposure is happening," Adawi said, and outreach, testing and disposal programs are needed.
Anjali Cameron, chief executive officer of CEVA (Seva), described community outreach and clinical screening at free clinics and urged funding for increased awareness and screening, linking product use to risks for pregnant people and children. Barbara Sue Hall, a Saint Paul resident and entrepreneur working with small-business groups, told the committee the work also helps small immigrant-owned retailers that may unknowingly sell banned products.
Representative Perez Vega asked the committee to check in on the bill; Representative Peraz Vega (sponsor) renewed the motion and the committee laid House File 1885 over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.
Testimony and questions addressed enforcement and product origins; witnesses said many products are imported illegally and sold online or in small ethnic stores and that labels often omit hazardous ingredients. The Beauty Well Project described outreach to malls, small retailers, libraries, youth groups and health providers and an existing database of tested products; they also highlighted the lack of a safe disposal network for contaminated products.
The committee laid the bill over for possible omnibus inclusion.
