Women in Birmingham are dying to look beautiful – almost literally.
They may be reluctant to leave home without it, but make-up is putting women at risk of deadly diseases, consumer watchdogs have warned.
Officers at Birmingham City Council’s Trading Standards team have discovered dozens of shops flogging cosmetics containing toxic ingredients that could cause blood poisoning, cancer, infertility, brain damage and even death.
The team has been cracking down on stores selling the deadly products – including skin lightening creams, lipsticks and eye make-up – containing banned substances such as poisonous lead, mercury or barium peroxide.
It has prosecuted several firms after some customers have been left with swollen eyes and burnt scalps from the dangerous cosmetics.
In the latest case, Sultan Mahmood was last week fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £1,235 costs, as well as a £15 victim surcharge after a probe by Trading Standards found his shop Al Iman Booksellers was selling eyeliners and hair dyes that contained lead.
The 42-year-old, of Westbourne Avenue, Ward End, admitted 14 charges of breaching consumer protection laws when he appeared before Birmingham Magistrates.
Adam O’Donnell, of Birmingham Trading Standards, said unsafe cosmetics was a big problem that the team was continually working to crack down on.
“There is a particular problem with banned items being imported from Asia and the Middle East that are being sold in stores targeting Asian and black customers,” he said.
“The products are banned in Europe, but continue to be used by rogue manufacturers and sold to a market of mainly Asian women.”
In 2011, the team targeted 36 shops, wholesalers and importers in Birmingham – mainly serving African-Caribbean and Asian communities – and 26 were found to stock cosmetics without the correct labels.
A total of 19 had poisonous stock which was seized on the spot and the traders faced legal action.
And it’s not just products targeted at ethnic minorities that are causing concern.
Counterfeit versions of designer make-up are flooding the market but have also been found to contain ingredients that cause permanent damage to both the body and the brain.
The cheap imitations may look legitimate but watchdogs are warning consumers to steer clear.
Last September, experts at Staffordshire County Laboratory & Scientific Services tested eight counterfeit designer make-up products bought online.
The items, which ripped off labels from MAC to Benefit, all contained a cocktail of potentially harmful ingredients including lead, copper, mercury and arsenic.
And dermatologists are reporting a rise in the number of women with skin conditions, such as acne and psoriasis, triggered by the use of counterfeit make-up.
A spokeswoman for the Trading Standards Institute said: “The manufacture of genuine cosmetics is strictly controlled and products are rigorously tested before they go on sale.
“But the counterfeiters churning out the cheap versions do not abide by any of these rules, so along with potentially harmful metals, other banned substances may be used.
“Paint stripper and nail varnish remover have been found in fake mascara and liquid eyeliners and a batch of counterfeit perfume contained urine.
“They’re widely available online, with sellers buying in stock from Chinese wholesalers or shady middlemen in the UK.”
* Anyone concerned about cosmetics they have purchased should call the Citizen’s Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 04 05 06.
