DR HILLARY CARMEN was at the forefront of=20 the movement to get skin-lighteners banned.=20 She says some of the first skinlighteners=20 available worldwide had mercury in them,=20 which was absorbed into the bloodstream=20 and caused kidney damage. Lotion containing=20 mercury was banned in 1975 and instead=20 hydroquinone was used. According to Carmen=20 this caused “an initial bleaching effect,=20 then the skin started to darken”, and after=20 this “caviar-like”, painless lumps formed=20 on people’s cheeks, necks and foreheads.=20 Such blemishes are known as “cosmetic=20 ochronosis”.
The campaign aimed to get British,=20 Australian and South African companies that=20 made money out of black people’s=20 inferiority complexes out of business. A=20 first visit to Parliament by the campaign=20 (which included Ellen Khuzwayo) had little=20 result -the then minister of health refused=20 to ban the use of such cosmetics.=20
By 1990, when Rina Venter was minister of=20 health, hydroquinone had been banned. It is=20 now only legal in drug form in quantities=20 of less than 2%, and a prescription is=20 needed to obtain it.
Aproduct called Shirley Skin Litener Cream=20 is made in Taiwan and not shy about its=20 hydroquinone content – maybe they thought=20 it was okay since they also claim this=20 cream contains citamins C and E. The=20 M&Gmanaged to buy a tube of this cream at=20 the first pharmacy it visited.
Carmen says the skin-lightening industry no=20 longer earns the R20-million a year it used=20 to, but many in the beauty industry have=20 seen such creams in shops and in the=20 street.
Naomi Pule, in charge of cosmetic control=20 at the department of health, says that if=20 people are caught selling such creams “we=20 have to action. We’ll take them to court=20 because its illegal. If I know the name of=20 the pharmacy [where you bought it] we’ll=20 send investigators.” But she admits they=20 have “few inspectors”.
She says lighteners are being purchased=20 from KwaZulu-Natal as “there is no=20 inspector there”. She says the department=20 is “trying to find where it comes from and=20 how we can get rid of it”.=20
Farieda Khan of the Environmental Advisory=20 Unit at the University of Cape Town has=20 done research on skin-lightening and has=20 written on the use of tree bark by women in=20 the Western Cape.=20
In an article in Agenda magazine, Khan=20 states that “very little is known of the=20 efficacy of this treatment, or if it has=20 any side effects.” It is also feared that=20 the debarking might cause environmental=20 damage. The Environmental Advisory Unit is=20 working on a fact sheet, to be distributed=20 to community-based environmental, women’s=20 and health organisations, on the subject.=20