Markets tainted with harmful beauty creams

Despite Sri Lanka’s law makes it compulsory to limit the using of mercury in skin lightning beauty creams to 1 milligram per kilogram (mg/kg), the market is flooded with creams that contain up to 20,000 mg/kg of mercury, a shocking revelation comes from the Consumer Affairs Authority.

Over 80 raids took place last week and large hauls of illegal skin whitening creams entering the local market through suitcase traders coming from the Middle East, India, Pakistan, Thailand, South Korea and China.

According to the World Health Organization the skin lightening industry is one of the fastest growing beauty industries worldwide and is estimated to be worth US$ 31.2 billion by 2024.

Kidney damage, skin rashes, skin discolouration and scarring, reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, anxiety and depression are some adverse effects of continuous usage of whitening creams with high levels of mercury. 

(Read the full story in this weekend’s issue of Sunday Times on illegal skin whitening creams.)