WUNRN
IVORY COAST BANS POTENTIALLY DAMAGING SKIN-WHITENING CREAMS
Concerns on widely-used
creams containing mercury, cortisone, vitamin A or hydroquinine that could
cause lasting damage to health, triggers Ivory Coast government ban
An
advertising placard for skin-lightening products in Abidjan. Ivory Coast’s
government has banned the products, the health ministry has announced.
Photograph: Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty Images
Agence
France-Presse – May 7, 2015
Ivory
Coast has banned skin-whitening creams, which are widely used
in west Africa, because of fears they cause lasting damage to health, the
health ministry said Wednesday.
“Cosmetic lightening and hygiene creams ... that
depigment the skin ... are now forbidden,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ban affects whitening creams and lotions
containing mercury and its derivatives, cortisone, vitamin A or more than two
percent hydroquinine, a lightening agent that is used to develop photographs.
“The number of people with side effects caused
by these medicines is really high,” said Christian Doudouko, a member of Ivory
Coast’s pharmaceutical authority, warning that they could cause skin cancer.
Lightening products can also lead to
hypertension and diabetes, said Elidje Ekra, a dermatologist at the Treichville
university hospital in Abidjan.
Whitening creams have been popular for years
among young African women, who see them as a way to make themselves more
attractive.
The use of the creams is believed to be even
more widespread in Nigeria.
Although there are no official figures on how
many women use such products across Africa,
billboards advertising the potentially deadly creams can be seen in cities
across the continent.
“In our cultures, some people think women with
light skin are the most beautiful. This beauty standard ... pushes many girls
to depigment their skin,” Ekra said.
“What we see in the media is the lighter one’s
skin is, the better one’s life,” he added, referring to advertisements that
fill the streets of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s biggest city, showing models with
lighter-than-average skin.
While the craze is most widespread among women,
some men use the creams too, Ekra said.
The creams are also extremely popular in many countries in Asia, including India, Pakistan and Japan, as well as in the Middle East.