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To: Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, SAHPRA CEO
Give Us A List Of Skin Products That Are Illegal
We, the people who signed this petition demand that South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) protect people from using harmful skin products by doing the following:
- You must create and maintain a list of skin products that are harmful, banned and illegal in South Africa.
- We demand the list to also have products that contain harmful ingredients like Mercury, Mercury salt and illegal amounts of Hydroquinone.
- The list must be publicly accessible from SAHPRA’s website.
Why is this important?
According to BBC, South Africa became the first country to ban the sale of skin lightening creams that have hydroquinone, that was in 1990[1]. Because we are the first country to ban creams with hydroquinone we should be leading the fight against harmful skin products, but that is not the case because many black women are still suffering the consequences of using harmful skin products, especially illegal skin lightening products.
SAHPRA has a list of their responsibilities on their website[4], one of those resposibilities is ensuring that unregistered health products are removed from the public but, how can the public know when a product is illegal if SAHPRA doesn't list them on their website? According to SAHPRA’s section 21, certain unregistered products are allowed to be sold, how can we tell whether an unregistered product is authorised to be sold or not?
SAHPRA has a list of registered health products on their website, it should be easy for them to have a list of products we should be wary of. Such transparency will allow people to make informed choices, it will help prevent the sale of dangerous skin products and also protect people’s health.
The Guardian reported that skin lightening products are linked to cancer in black women, melanin found in black people protects the skin against sun damage and when they use illegal skin products they remove the protection they had against sun damage[2].
Despite regulations in place, Daily Maverick shared that South Africa's market of illegal skin lightening products is growing and the products are not only sold by informal vendors in shops but also online, quoting platforms like eBay, Takealot, Facebook and many more[3].
SAHPRA has the power to let people know what skin products are illegal, but they are choosing to turn a blind eye and instead, they tell us to report illegal health products. How can we report illegal products when we can’t even identify them? this negligence is putting more and more people’s health at risk because not everyone can identify illegal health products, a lot of these products are sold online, SAHPRA must evolve, catch up and utilise the internet to name and shame these products by publicising a list, inspect, raise awareness and share information.
Let's come together by signing this petition, tagging South African Health Products Regulated Authority(SAHPRA) on all their social media platforms and also visiting their website and tell them that we want a list of illegal skin products, we see their incompetence, we don’t like it and we won’t tolerate it anymore.
[1] How South Africa banned skin lightening creams, BBC, July 3 2020
[2] Colonial ideas of beauty: how skin lightening products are linked to cancer in black African women, 30 July 2025, Kat Lay.
[3] Skin lightening whitewash: Global and domestic bans of cosmetics containing Mercury prove to be skin deep, Tony Carnie for Daily Maverick, 15 February 2022.
[4] SAHPRA’s Regulatory Compliance, Unit Responsibilities List.
