Physicians warn skin diseases from use of fake cosmetics
Adulterated cosmetics have flooded markets to such an extent that the sellers themselves are unable to distinguish between the original and the adulterated.
Wholesalers claim it has become impossible to identify the pure commodity before use.
They also say a number of manufacturers are defunct, but there are commodities under those brands in the market.
A worker of a cosmetic shop at the Dhaka city’s Moulvibazar told the news agency, ‘The cosmetics we sell in the name of the “Ole” brand are not original.’
A co-worker of Shahjahan named a number of lotion brands, such as Nivea, Lux, Mask, Aqua and Fadeout, and some perfume brands like Hugo, Ferrari, Poison, Royal, Havoc and Cobra, as well as some other cosmetic brands which he claimed were fake.
He said that even though the original commodities are not available, they sell the adulterated goods as they are on high demand.
He suggested people not to buy less than half a litre of bottled oil to avoid buying adulterated oil.
A trader, on condition of anonymity, said the goods are pirated in the city’s Lalbagh and Hazaribagh areas as well as in Kamrangir Char and Keraniganj’s Ati village.
He added that the goods were brought to the city’s Chowkbazar and Moulvibazar markets in association with the police.
The Chowkbazar police chief, Mohammad Ali, however, denied the allegation.
The Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute official KM Hanif told the news agency that a team was working on adulterated cosmetics. He also said that five traders were fined a total of Tk 6,00,000 during the last Ramadan.
Doctors cautioned of different skin diseases from using adulterated cosmetics.
Dhaka Medical College assistant professor SM Bakhtiar Kamal said various skin diseases, including cancer, can be caused by the use of adulterated products.
