Kao Corporation to stop using “whitening” on its product labels
It is the first Japanese cosmetics company to stop using the Japanese word bihaku (bi means beauty, haku means white).
South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) shops notified for selling prohibited skin lightening creams
About R6,000 (around US$410) worth of prohibited skin lightening creams were seized in one shop alone.
Zimbabwe: Five men imprisoned for smuggling drugs and skin lightening creams worth US$5,000
The judge said the harsh sentence was needed as a deterrent.
The Gambia: Lawmakers voted to uphold a ban on skin lightening products
After a debate in parliament, 23 ministers voted to uphold the ban, and 10 voted to repeal it.
Thailand: Toxic whitening creams seized from four factories
The creams contained mercury, hydroquinone, and steroids. Each jar cost about 70 US cents to make and sells for US$4 each — a potentially 400-500% profit for the sellers of such creams on social media and elsewhere.
Huge profits can explain why these harmful creams are advertised and sold aggressively online — they offer a windfall for sellers, and the easy money makes it easier to turn a blind eye to the damage the creams would do to anyone who buys and uses them.