A woman was arrested in California’s Central Valley on Tuesday after federal officials accused her of peddling skin care creams tainted with dangerous levels of mercury.
Maria Estela Esparza Magallanes, a 30-year-old Orosi woman, sold skin creams laced with mercury using Facebook ads, promising that the illegal products — smuggled into the United States from Mexico — would treat acne, remove age spots and lighten skin color, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release on Tuesday.
“These dangerous creams, which were marketed to women in immigrant communities, jeopardized the safety of women and children across California and in several other states,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Magallanes “marketed the products under the names Crema Esparza and Crema Jimena.” She’s accused of selling the products to an undercover federal agent, among others.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration agents investigated the products, resulting in the charges Magallanes faces of “selling adulterated and misbranded skin care products and smuggling the unapproved creams into the United States,” prosecutors said.
The criminal complaint against Magallanes was filed Nov. 13 in Los Angeles federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, told McClatchy news group in an email Tuesday evening that Magallanes appeared in court in Fresno on Tuesday but remains in custody and has a bond hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
“The Facebook page she used to market the products contained purported testimonials from customers and included before-and-after photos,” prosecutors said, adding that “Magallanes sold the creams to the two victims in hand-to-hand transactions in parking lots in Tulare County, and she used the United States Postal Service to ship products on several occasions to the undercover agent.”
Magallanes called the products “natural” in online communications, according to prosecutors, saying they included ingredients such as “lanolin, rose water and bee pollen, and ... ‘stem cells.’”
But prosecutors said the “creams allegedly sold by Magallanes to one of the victims and the undercover agent contained dangerous levels of mercury. The second victim was tested, which revealed mercury in her system.”
Magallanes faces up to 26 years in prison if convicted on the three charges she faces, according to prosecutors.
“The amounts of mercury in these products are very high,” the Food and Drug Administration concluded. “There is risk to the user, especially with chronic use, and there is risk to those around/in the user, especially infants and children and unborn babies. It is important to note that infants and children who are held by or rub up against a mother using these products can get it on their skin. The mercury will also evaporate from the product and be inhaled by the user and those around her.”
Mercury-tainted face creams have prompted earlier warnings from California’s Department of Public Health, particularly after a Sacramento woman was hospitalized “in a semi-comatose state after using a Pond’s-labeled skin cream tainted with methylmercury.”
“Sacramento County Public Health urges the community to immediately stop using similar, altered skin creams imported from Mexico due to the risk of contamination with methylmercury,” Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said in a September statement. “Methylmercury is extremely dangerous to adults and children.”
In September, Tulare County health officials were also “warning residents about mercury-contaminated facial creams found locally at flea markets and stores,” the Fresno Bee reported at the time.
The Bee reported that symptoms of mercury poisoning “include difficulty concentrating, memory loss, anxiety, irritability, depression, insomnia, headaches, weight loss and fatigue. Tremors, numbness or tingling in hands feet or around the lips, and weakness in the extremities could also be present.”
Jared Gilmour is a McClatchy national reporter based in San Francisco. He covers everything from health and science to politics and crime. He studied journalism at Northwestern University and grew up in North Dakota.
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California woman sold smuggled skin creams tainted with mercury, officials say - Sacramento Bee
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