E-DRUG: toxic UK skinlightning creams scar SA women
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[Sunday Times, 12 December 1999. Copied from their
website as fair use; WB]
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/12/12/news/news01.htm
[For more articles and a background on the use of skinlightners,
and why they were banned in South Africa as cosmetics, see also:]
How they took my dignity
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/12/12/news/news17.htm
Smugglers cash in on an illicit market
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/12/12/news/news30.htm
The dark history
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/12/12/news/news32.htm
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[frontpage article]
Toxic UK creams scar SA women
Victims suffer grotesque injuries from contraband potions.
by DINA SEEGER and BABALWA SHOTA
TOXIC British skin-bleaching creams are being smuggled into South
Africa in a multibillionrand underground industry which is disfiguring
thousands of women.
A Sunday Times investigation has found that the creams, which are
made in Bolton, Manchester, Egham and London, all contain the chemical
hydroquinone - banned in South Africa 10 years ago.
Dermatologists have slammed the British companies, saying it is a
scandal that they are being allowed to exploit women in South Africa.
The creams cause irreparable skin damage.
The British companies sell their creams to agents in Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Angola, Zaire, Botswana and Kenya. The agents employ
syndicates to smuggle them into South Africa - hidden between goods
on trucks, on the top of buses, in car boots and in suitcases.
Gavin Collinet, director of customs operations for the South African
Revenue Services, said a criminal element was taking advantage of the
lack of control at borders and harbours. Locals are also used as
"runners" by South African businessmen to bring in the creams, which
are then sold to shops, pharmacies, hawkers and spaza shops.
On Friday, the Medicines Control Council raided Johannesburg
wholesaler and distributor Mash Hair Care and Cosmetics.
Thousands of tubes of illegal face creams, hidden in a basement in
Jeppe Street, were confiscated. At least 10 of the brands found were
made in England.
The creams were hidden underneath legal hair products and body
lotions. The manager was arrested and will appear in court tomorrow on
charges of possession and selling of unregistered medicines.
The Medicines Control Council's vice-chairman, Professor Peter
Eagles, said no mercy would be shown to distributors and producers of
illegal brands.
"We need to shut these people down and put them out of business.
These creams are dangerous and are causing havoc."
He said the council's inspectorate, in conjunction with the Narcotics
Bureau and Organised Crime Unit, would search warehouses, raid
factories and prosecute offenders.
The Sunday Times investigation found that the illegal creams are
freely available throughout South Africa.
Five creams, tested for the Sunday Times by Potchefstroom
University's Centre for Quality Assurance of Medicines, all contained
hydroquinone. Two British-made creams, Jaribu and Rico, contained
more than the two percent allowed by law in the UK.
Stephen Dunning of Nish Cosmetics in Manchester, which makes Jaribu,
denied his company was involved in the illegal trade.
"The fact that our creams are being smuggled into your country is not
our problem," he said.
Patricia Wing, spokeswoman for Rico Skin Care Ltd, said: "We cannot
police our creams everywhere in the world. We manufacture and sell our
products, after that they are out of our control."
The black-market network begins in the UK, with the major producers
of legal hydroquinonebased skin-lightening creams.
The factories target mass buyers in Africa, where hydroquinone is not
regulated. The goods are then smuggled into South Africa.
Eagles said the Medicines Control Council had identified a
distribution warehouse in Kenya. Illegal creams are also brought in
from the Far East by wholesalers.
Dermatologists at hospitals throughout South Africa said women were
lining up to beg for treatment for their ruined faces.
Professor Norma Saxe, head of the dermatology department at Groote
Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, said hydroquinone disfigured the face
and caused permanent damage.
Saxe said when combined with sunlight, hydroquinone was even more
dangerous, which was why South African women have been plagued by its
side-effects.
Doctor Hilary Carman, who campaigned to ban hydroquinone in the '80s,
said it was a scandal that factories in First World countries were
allowed to exploit SA women.
Experts say women using the creams are thrilled with the results at
first, but then red blotches appear, followed by dark blotches. They
use more cream to try to cover these but only cause more damage.
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[on page 6 the following companies and products are mentioned]
http://www.suntimes.co.za/1999/12/12/news/news33.htm
Banned, but still available
THIS week police raided the premises of a Johannesburg wholesaler and
discovered several illegal creams which had been smuggled into South
Africa. The creams were confiscated by the Medicines Control Council.
They included:
Mekako, Jaribu and Amira, all made by Nish Cosmetics in Bolton,
England;
Rico, made by Rico Skin Care Ltd in Egham, England;
Miki, IKB, Symba and Magiclear, produced in England;
Palmer's Skin Success Fade Cream, made in the US;
Bu-Tone, made in Zambia;
Shirley, made in Taiwan;
Top Cream, made by Top Products of London, Paris and New York. This
cream is also believed to be made in South Africa.
The council will incinerate the creams this week.
[Moderators comments:
We have discussed the dangers of skinlightners before in E-drug, and
several TV documentaries have been made on this problem. However, the
problems continue unabated.
In South Africa, skinlightners are banned as cosmetics. They are only
registered at maximum 2% hydroquinone with a strong sunscreen block,
and are only available on prescription from doctors.
The SA creams are being smuggled illegally into the country. Of
course this should be stopped. But not all countries do have the
capability to control their borders or markets.
I think the UK should investigate the UK based companies, and
stop the export of hazardous creams. At least they should
export only maximum 2% creams, and they should all include a strong
sunscreen block to avoid the sideeffects of repigmentation.
Any other proposals?
Wilbert Bannenberg
E-drug co-moderator
Email: WilbertBannenberg@compuserve.com
]
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