Home
Africa News
Business
World

About NewsHub
Cart
Checkout
Checkout - News Hub PRO
Contact Us
Home
Homepage - mobile
Login/Register
Login/Register - News Hub PRO
Menu Popup - News Hub PRO
My account
My Account - News Hub PRO
Plans Select - News Hub PRO
Premium Content
Privacy Policy
Shop
Terms of Use

Kenyan regulators must act on River Road’s bleaching business

Africa News News African October 30, 2026 · Comments off

Take a walk down River Road in Nairobi, and you will find skin-lightening products openly displayed on shop shelves and street stalls, promising brighter skin, flawless beauty and a supposedly better version of oneself. The disturbing question is not simply why Kenyans are buying these products, but why potentially dangerous skin-bleaching products are so visible in our markets, and where are the regulators?

Skin bleaching is more than a beauty trend. It is a public health concern fuelled by colourism, social pressure and an industry that profits from people’s insecurities. Kenya must stop treating it as a harmless cosmetic preference and confront the risks before preventable harm becomes a national concern.

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB), the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs,) and relevant public health authorities have important roles in ensuring that products within their respective mandates meet applicable safety requirements. Yet the open availability of skin-lightening products raises legitimate questions about market surveillance, product testing and enforcement.

Are products being tested to verify their ingredients? Are importers and distributors complying with safety standards? How often are retailers inspected? And when prohibited or non-compliant products are discovered, are they withdrawn promptly and those responsible held accountable?

Some skin-lightening products contain mercury, potent corticosteroids or hydroquinone in unsafe concentrations or formulations. Depending on the substance and exposure, these products can cause skin damage, infections and other serious complications. Mercury exposure can damage the kidneys and nervous system.

Beyond occasional inspections and public warnings, River Road and other high-risk markets require consistent, intelligence-led inspections, laboratory testing and tracking of products from importation to retail.

PPB, Kebs, county public health departments and customs authorities should strengthen coordination to identify unsafe products, investigate their supply chains and take appropriate enforcement action. Online sellers must not be overlooked, particularly where misleading claims and unverified products are being promoted.

The writer is a Communications and PR Specialist

[email protected]

Source link

Calendar

October 2026
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

You may be interested in: