In an effort to cut down on toxic mercury pollution, scientists are reporting that they can now locate creams containing mercury and intervene in a quicker manner than before. Countries are attempting to do away with toxic mercury pollution as some individuals put lotion containing the metal on their skin or by injecting it underneath their skin.

Scientists will be speaking at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, an event organized by the largest scientific society on the planet and which features almost 12,000 presentations on various scientific topics. The event is being held in San Francisco now through Thursday.

Gordon Vrdoljak, PhD, of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement, “In the U.S., the limit on mercury in products is 1 part per million.” He continued, “In some of these creams, we’ve been finding levels as high as 210,000 parts per million — really substantial amounts of mercury. If people are using the product quite regularly, their hands will exude it, it will get in their food, on their countertops, on the sheets their kids sleep on.”

To identify the harmful products, Vrdoljak used an instrument that uses total reflection x-ray fluorescence, a technique that can help screen product samples for mercury more efficiently but as accurately as existing techniques.

According to the World Health Organization, exposure to mercury can have toxic effects on the lungs, kidneys, skin, and eyes, along with the nervous, digestive, and immune systems.