January 22nd 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan government announced on Monday that it has imposed ban on imports of cosmetic that are used to lighten the skin requiring companies and individuals working in this trade to register.
Speaking to journalists at a press conference held in Juba on Monday, the Secretary-General of South Sudan’s Food and Drug Control Authority Mawien Atem Mawien said all creams for lightening skins are prohibition citing health hazards associated with the use of bleaching agents..
“All the whitening creams that is to say the bleaching creams are prohibited for import without any approval from the drug and food control authority those that are actually of particular interest here are the creams that contains mercury and hydroquinone because these two products mercury and hydroquinone they are very important chemicals which must have to be used only through prescription,” he told reporters on Monday.
The development comes a few days after Rwanda announced a similar ban on skin lightening and bleaching products. The World Health Organization estimates that at least four in every 10 African women bleach their skin.
