Awareness of Contaminated Beauty Cream
LANCASHIRE County Council’s Trading Standards Service is warning consumers about contaminated beauty cream found on sale in the county.
Tests have indicated that ‘Zero-Mark Natural Fairness Beauty Cream’ contains lead, a chemical ingredient which is prohibited in cosmetics and is known to have toxic properties which in severe cases can lead to brain and nervous system damage.
County Councilor Marcus Johnstone, Cabinet member for community, planning and partnerships, said: “If consumers have purchased the beauty cream they should stop using it immediately. Any retailers who have the cream in stock should ensure that it is removed from sale and must not sell it.”
The contaminated beauty cream is labeled ‘Zero-Mark Natural Fairness Beauty Cream’ and comes in 25 gram tubes. The cream is sold in a cardboard outer box which is labeled with a batch number 001 and a manufacturing date of 03/2006.
Both the tube and the cardboard box are labeled with a distributor of Alamgeer Foods, Darlaston WS10 8BW.
The discovery of the cream comes following a survey of skin lightening products found on sale across Preston and the East of the county, predominantly from shops within the Asian community. No information is currently available as to how much of the product has been imported but it may have been widely distributed throughout the UK. The distributor is currently undertaking a product recall of the product.
The problem was discovered when eight different products were sampled and analyzed for compliance with the Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 2008. The regulations prohibit the use of heavy metals, including lead, in cosmetics such as face creams.
The affected product contained 26mg/kg of lead. On being informed of the problem, the Burnley retailer of the cream removed remaining stocks from sale. The other seven products sampled were not found to contain dangerous or prohibited ingredients.
If consumers have purchased the contaminated beauty cream, they should report the matter to Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 and Trading Standards will investigate these incidents.