Mozambican authorities incinerate unsafe cosmetics

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Mozambican authorities incinerate unsafe cosmetics

3:12 CAT | 12 Dec 2022

Photo: Lusa

Mozambican authorities have incinerated 10,000 cosmetic products held to pose a “potential risk” to health since September, the last batch on Friday.

“We’ve already incinerated around 10,000 items,” since receiving an alert from the European Union (EU) on September 2, said Sheila Mercis, an inspector at Mozambique’s National Medicines Regulatory Authority (Anarme).

Sheila was speaking to Lusa on the side-lines of the incineration of the most recent batch of 1,000 packages collected in the Mozambican market.

The consumables include shower gel, shampoo, creams and sprays, which, the authorities say, contain substances such as butylphenyl-methylpropional and zinc pyrithione which can cause “carcinogenic and mutagenic” problems, in addition to being “toxic to reproduction” and potentially causing infertility.

“By incinerating, we are guaranteeing that in the market, at least, there will no longer be any [harmful] products for sale,” said Paulo Aguiar, technical and logistical director of Medis Moçambique, a concern owned by Portuguese pharmaceutical group Azevedos, which imports medicines, as well as managing their marketing, distribution and retail in Mozambique.

According to Medis, the cosmetic products in question have already been reviewed by the manufacturers and new formulas have been submitted to Anarme for approval, so that they can be imported again “without the risky substances”.

“All manufacturers in Europe have already withdrawn the [harmful] substance. The next batches will not contain these substances,” Aguiar said.

Source: Lusa