Abstract
People of Asian countries are very much conscious about complexion. This desire is exploited with advertisements of fairness creams in both the print and visual media which allure youngsters with promises of desired results. Skin lightening products occupy 61% of dermatological market in India. Cosmetics are supposed to be safe and healthy, but research reports on their toxicities are available. Heavy metals are added intentionally or unintentionally to cosmetics, the presence of which, the consumers are mostly unaware of. Arsenic, lead and mercury are top among hazardous systemic toxicants, which induce toxicity even at low levels of exposure. In this connection a survey was conducted among college students and working women regarding the usage of fairness creams, which revealed that use of fairness creams, is common. As per the information gathered, four most commonly used brands of fairness creams in Kerala, India, were analysed for arsenic, lead and mercury by ICP-MS. Although not in high levels, these were present in varying amounts in the four most commonly used brands of fairness creams. Analysis revealed the importance in choosing cosmetics with caution and to minimize the usage as far as possible.
Highlights
Skin-lightening or “fairness” creams are big business in India
The di-acid digested samples were analysed for mercury, arsenic and lead by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Agilent 7700 analyser, at the Chemical analytical facility of Ministry of Ayush, Government of India known as “CARe Keralam”, Koratty, Thrissur, Kerala, India
The present mini-survey revealed that 41.4% of women used fairness creams and that 67.2% used them on a daily basis. 91% of the users found their creams effective and were satisfied with the product they used
Summary
Skin-whitening products are popular in Asian countries like India, China, Japan, and Korea (Burger, Landreau, Azoulay, Michel, & Fernandez, 2016). Such products occupy 61% of dermatological market in India Anitha Jose is associate professor in the Department of Zoology, Assumption Autonomous College, Changanasserry, Kerala, India, and is currently doing doctoral research under FDP scheme of UGC, in the Laboratory of Ecology & Eco technology, School of Biosciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. J.G. Ray is professor in the School of Biosciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. Ray is professor in the School of Biosciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India He obtained PhD from Dniepropetrovsk National University, Ukraine, in 1992, and is a research guide from 1993 onwards. Interested areas of research are Ecology and Ecotechnology, especially soil ecology, and have many international publications to his credit
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