nosed with mercury poisoning, giving her headaches, numbness,http://forum.wspx.cn/showtopic-724607.aspx,toms the shoes, depression and forgetfulness. Scouring her home for the likely culprit,discount toms shoes, they determined that an illegal skin-lightening cream smuggled in from Mexico was to blame. Health investigators are currently going undercover in some San Francisco Bay Area ethnic communities to root out the foreign-made products whose pigment-busting ingredient can have damaging side effects. The unlabeled jars of mercury-laced cream are typically used to lighten skin, fade freckles and age spots, as well as treat acne,http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/b2evolution-cms-platform-run-multiple-blogs/. The investigators are working with health and beauty workers in the immigrant communities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose to hunt for the skin creams in shops and at swap meets, while encouraging families to dispose of the products safely. The California Department of Public Health sent out a medical alert to health care professionals earlier this month, calling on them to notify the state of potential mercury poisoning cases and to ask their patients to stop using their creams. California health officials worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to write a report in January that indicated at least 22 people in five households in California and Virginia had shared skin-lightening creams made in Mexico. Twelve people in California and 10 in Virginia had mercury in their bloodstream; the highest levels were among women who typically used the cream at least twice a day,toms outlet. Officials would not release the names of the people in the study that began in 2010, saying they wanted to protect their privacy. After the study began, samples of the cream tested in Virginia showed that it contained 5 to 6 percent mercury, according to state health officials there. The Minnesota Department of Health warned residents last year that skin lightening products being sold in African, Asian, Latino and Middle Eastern communities in the Twin Cities contained dangerous levels of mercury,http://www.indianapolislitigationblog.com/2013/03/by-michael-j-blinn-attorney.html#comments. The Environmental Protection Agency has warned about the presence of the heavy metal in creams sold in the Chicago area. California health officials believe there likely are many more people who are using the cream and are unaware of its dangers. The products often enter this country hidden in luggage, or are smuggled across the border. Then the creams are sold under the counter at shops and pharmacies that cater to ethnic communities whose cultural norms lean toward lighter skin as a marker of beauty. "That is the largest incidence that we're aware of here in California," said Dr. Rupali Das, chief of the exposure assessment section at the California Department of Public Health, of the Alameda County cases. Mercury poisoning can harm the body's nervous system and kidneys, and even affect personality, health officials say. The CDC report found that six of those in the study had symptoms consistent with chronic exposure to mercury, including numbness, tingling, dizziness, forgetfulness, headaches and depression. All reported getting their creams either directly from Mexico or from relat