Southern Africa sees upsurge in use of skin lightening

The Southern African region has seen an upsurge in the smuggling of the creams, beauty and antiseptic soaps, or lotions that allegedly contain mercury.

The unlabelled jars of mercury-laced cream are marketed as skin lighteners and anti-aging treatments that remove age spots, freckles, blemishes and wrinkles.  Adolescents also may use these products as acne treatments.

This was revealed by delegates attending the just-ended Green Customs Initiative (GCI) workshop in Victoria Falls.

Some officials said the smuggling and illegal use of skin-lightening creams was a major issue in Africa where customs officials were not fully equipped to detect such hazardous substances.

"In Zambia, we are very much concerned about the level of mercury in skin lightening creams. We are also failing to detect them since the labelling does not say," said one official from Zambia.

Responding to concerns by the delegates, Professor Abdouraman Bary, Multilateral Environmental Agreements regional advisor (chemicals) for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) regional office for Africa, said mercury exposure can affect foetal neurological development.

"Mercury exposure has also been linked to lowered fertility, brain and nerve damage and heart disease in adults. Mercury poisoning can harm the body's nervous system and kidneys, and even affect personality," he said.

"Mercury can also be released from a number of mercury-containing products, including dental amalgam, laboratory and medical instruments, clinical thermometers, antiseptic and antibacterial creams, and skin lightening creams," he added.

He said since 2001, the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (UNEP GC/GMEF) has regularly discussed the need to protect human health and the environment from releases of mercury and its compounds.

Many women in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and most of West Africa use the potentially dangerous creams to lighten their skins and remove blemishes so as to look more beautiful and younger.  The creams are often smuggled across borders and sold illegally despite warnings of the immediate and long-term dangers they cause on the health of users and their unborn children.

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