Parents rely on various local and foreign cosmetic products to protect their children's skin during different seasons. They also buy various cosmetic products for themselves.
To cash in on the opportunity to make a quick buck, unscrupulous traders in Kushtia are selling fake and adulterated cosmetics targeting children. These cosmetic products imitate popular brands such as Johnson's Baby products.
This particular brand is very popular among parents, and they buy Johnson’s Baby lotion, shampoo, soap, oil, and other skincare products. However, the health of young children is at risk due to the use of fake products.
According to experts, regular use of such substandard and fake cosmetic products could potentially cause many diseases, including skin cancer as they reportedly contain harmful heavy metals and chemicals.
However, those responsible for supervising the markets assert that regular operations are being conducted to prevent fake and substandard cosmetics from being sold.
Local cosmetic item sellers in Kushtia say that these products come to the district from Dhaka through some wholesalers. Then these items are sold at the local shops.
Fazlur Rahman, a wholesaler, said: “We only sell local versions of Johnson’s Baby products. But we only sell baby oil and shampoo. However, none of it is original. If sellers order, only then will we provide them with the original one.”
Sujan Ali, a local trader in Kushtia's Mirpur, said that many adulterated cosmetics are available in the market for children.
There is minimal profit in these products if bought directly from the company. However, there is better profit if one sells substandard products.
This correspondent inspected some products at a shop named Labani Cosmetics in Mirpur. However, none of the products had importer’s information on them.
Despite that, Abdul Alim, the owner of the shop, claimed that these products directly came from India and Thailand.
Suchandan Mandal, assistant director of the Kushtia office of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, said the directorate has been having a hard time proving that these products are fake and adulterated due to a lack of testing facilities.
If one has to declare an item as fake then one must prove that the item is fake, and that can be done through testing, he said.
Mandal said that the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) has such laboratory facilities where these products can be tested.
Dipankar Kumar Dutta, field officer of the Kushtia regional office of BSTI, said that the place of origin of these fake products is Jinjira. The cases and bottles of original products are brought there and are refilled after washing.
Referring to drives by the mobile courts, the official said: "We have conducted many mobile court drives in Kushtia. Since I joined the Kushtia office in May this year, we have conducted raids at seven companies.”
Interestingly, he said that almost all the shops were raided by the BSTI at different times. Despite the raids, however, the sales and marketing of the fake products have continued.
Cancer specialist Dr Tauchifur Rahman at Mirpur Upazila Health Complex said that the presence of harmful chemicals in fake cosmetics is increasing the health risks for children.
These harmful chemicals can pose serious health hazards even for adults, he added.