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Skin Lightening Public Health Issue Featured in CNN "White Lies" Series

The CNN International series ?White Lies? included a number of news stories and online features about the global use of skin lightening products, its roots in colorism, and the harms that mercury and other exposures may cause. Meera Senthilingam authored a recent story describing a Minnesota case of vision loss from skin lightening/mercury exposure. The response to this case was handled by Dr. Erin Batdorff, formerly with the Minnesota Poison Control System, the MDH Biomonitoring Program, and colleagues with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. For more information,?see: CNN White Lies series - Ending skin lightening? [ [link removed] ]?



Healthy Kids Minnesota Update

* The second program cycle of Healthy Kids Minnesota [ [link removed] ], launched in August 2022, is successfully wrapping up and includes Northeast Minnesota and St. Paul.
* To date, 491 children have been recruited with a urine sample collected, thanks to our partners. As we have mentioned before,?urine samples are collected during Early Childhood Screening appointments and tested for?chemical exposures to inform and evaluate policies and programs that reduce exposures.
* Recruitment is ongoing at all sites except Cloquet Public Schools and will be concluded by the end of August 2023.

We would like to recognize the great work of all our partners, including Cloquet Public Schools/Carlton County Public Health, Cook County Public Schools/Cook County Public Health, St. Paul Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools/St. Louis County Public Health, and Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Health and Human Services. We are grateful for the partnerships and all our partners' efforts to recruit in their respective communities.




? ? ? Biomonitoring Articles/Presentations?

* ?Biomonitoring with a Health Equity Lens. [ [link removed] ]? Association of Public Health Laboratories Lab Matters Summer 2023 issue. Authors: Kelly Chen, Jessica Nelson, Jennifer Liebreich.?
* ?Healthy Kids Minnesota biomonitoring program available to Cook County kids [ [link removed] ].? North Shore Community Radio, May 22, 2023.?
* Jessica Nelson Ph.D. and Fathi Ahmed presented at the MDH Speaks event May 12, 2023. Their TED-style talk was titled ?Healthy Kids Minnesota: A New Statewide Program to Measure Environmental Exposures in Minnesota Preschoolers.?




June 2023 Advisory Panel Meeting Summary

*Skin Lightening Public Health Issue Featured in CNN "White Lies" Series*

Meera Senthilingam?is editor for CNN ?As Equals,? the network's gender inequality desk, and was formerly international health editor for CNN. She authored a recent story describing a Minnesota case of vision loss from skin lightening/mercury exposure.?Senthilingam?gave an overview of the ?White Lies? series, how the Minnesota story fit into the larger series, and her thoughts on the impact of the story.

*Skin Lightening Products and Urine Mercury Testing: Recommendations?for Future Work *

The response to the skin lightening case featured in the White Lies series was handled by Dr. Erin Batdorff, formerly with the Minnesota Poison Control System. Batdorff shared lessons learned from her work on urine mercury testing and response, and offered recommendations for future work in this area.?

*Healthy Kids Minnesota 2021: Preliminary Results*

Sheila?Amenumey, Ph.D. shared preliminary results for urinary pesticides and environmental phenols data, along with answers to survey questions, for children in Healthy Kids Minnesota 2021. She also discussed a plan for future data analyses.?




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