Illegal skin lightening products are being sold in butchers and specialist food shops across the UK as well as online, a watchdog has warned.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) said the dangerous and illicit products are appearing in an increasingly wide range of places.
It has told the public to avoid the creams and report shops that continue to sell them.
« As a black woman and a long-standing advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion, I want to be absolutely clear: the sale of illegal skin lightening products is not only dangerous, it is unlawful, » Tendy Lindsay, a CTSI member and former chair, said.
The CTSI said many of the products have been banned for containing ingredients such as hydroquinone, mercury, and powerful corticosteroids.
The ingredients are illegal because they increase the risk of skin damage, infections, and pregnancy-related complications.
The standards body said users are driven toward skin lightening by « complex social and personal factors », including colourism, a type of discrimination which favours lighter skin shades.
The BBC this month reported on the dangers posed by illegal skin lightening products and their prevalence.
Speaking to Morning Live, Daniel Murrell-Williamson from Essex, said he spent two months as a 17-year-old using a cream he did not know contained toxic and illegal ingredients.
Hoping to cover dark patches on his skin that had been caused by acne, Daniel relied on an unmarked product given to him by a friend.
« I definitely saw a difference in my skin complexion and felt like I needed to keep up with it, because if I stopped, I would revert back to my original skin complexion, » he said.
Daniel added that eventually, he was using the bleaching product all over his body on a daily basis.
The product he was using was illegal because it contained hydroquinone, which can weaken the skin, increasing the risk of cancer – as well as causing liver and kidney damage.
Arlene Dihoulou said she was unaware of the dangers posed by skin lightening creams but had done so after experiencing colourism and racism related to her skin tone as a child.
A cosmetics retailer in Peckham, London, was fined £30,000 in November after being caught selling illegal skin lightening products for a second time. Across the borough of Southwark alone, 62 companies or individuals have been prosecuted for selling skin lighteners since 2002.
As part of its warning, the CTSI said consumers should:
Lindsay said she was « deeply concerned » about the social factors fuelling demand for skin lightening products, warning that « colourism and harmful beauty standards can create vulnerability ».
And she warned those supplying the products, some of whom do not know they are illegal, that « a lack of awareness is not a defence ».
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