THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If beauty depends on how we protect it, think twice before you lean on an armchair to do a facial or a face massage at a beauty parlour or a barber shop.For, various spurious skin creams, face creams, talcum powders, including baby powders, perfumes and deodorants in the name of leading cosmetics brands are finding their way into the beauty parlours and barber shops in the state.The intelligence branch of the State Drugs Control Department in a statewide intensive raid has unearthed spurious cosmetics of almost all the leading brands from wholesale dealers and duty-free shops, which supply to the beauty parlours and barber shops.C S Satheesh Kumar, Drugs Controller, Kerala, said that the initial investigation revealed that it is just the tip of the iceberg and that more raids would be carried out across the state in the coming days. “The cosmetics seized were from the wholesale dealers and duty-free shops that supply products as imported cosmetics to beauty parlour and barber shops. Most of the these cosmetics had labels of leading brands, which were found to be fake,” he said. He said that the penetration of the spurious cosmetics may go beyond just beauty parlours and barber shops, which have serious implications as the products include baby oil and baby talcum powder. ‘’We have already issued appeals to the beauty parlours /hair dressing saloons of the state to be more cautious and judicious in the usage of cosmetics. The public should also be aware of the serious implication these fake cosmetics could cause,’’ said Satheesh Kumar. The seized spurious cosmetics contain a high amount of toxic substances like lead, arsenic, cobalt and nickel, which when applied on the skin, permeates into the body and cause serious side effects, which include simple dermatitis and carcinoma.Meanwhile, the initial investigations point towards a racket being involved in the business and the officials are trying to trace out the sources of manufacturing of these products. ‘’We are currently tracing the chain. We have gathered information that in Thiruvananthapuram and other parts of the state, the bulk items came from either Kochi or Kozhikode. According to the clues, in Kochi the spurious cosmetics found their way from Mumbai. The investigation will take at least six months,” said KJ John, State Deputy Drugs Controller.
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