Bindi in India goes unchecked

NEW DELHI: The 'bindi', the ubiquitous mark on the forehead of Indian women is facing a problem in the distant United States where a manufacturer has been forced to withdraw a batch along with other cosmetics products from the market owing to its high lead content.

In the land of its birth, the bindi, however, continues to be manufactured unchecked as there is no agency to monitor the usage and harmful effects of spurious products.

"The cosmetics industry is not at all regulated in India. There's no apex body to control this in India", says Dr Deepak Vohra, a cosmetologist.

"What's worse is the fact that most of the branded products in the market do not carry the mandatory label of ingredients, colouring agent (chemicals used) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark and no declaration whatsoever that that the products are manufactured from any carcinogenic or any harmful ingredients", Dr Vohra says.

According to experts, 'sindoor' or 'kumkum' readily available in market often contains high amount of lead, which heightens the risk of poisoning. Lead exposure can result in a wide range of biological effects, depending upon the level and duration of exposure.

Synthetic sindoor can cause serious dermatological disorders like irritation, skin toxicity, eczema, leucoderma. Long-term exposure to even low levels of lead can cause irreversible learning difficulties, mental retardation, and delayed neurological and physical development, doctors say.

"It has been proved repeatedly that the metals like lead and mercury, used in such cosmetics, can be absorbed through skin and permeate into internal organs causing irreparable damages," says Dr Rishi Parashar of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

"These toxic elements after entering human body can harm every organ in the human body, especially the brain, kidney and reproductive system. Thus it can even cause several defects to pre-natal babies," he explains.

"It can also permanently damage the central nervous system, resulting in learning difficulties in school children as well as cause other long-term health hazards," supports Dr Vohra.

But, the Indian women have been using kumkum without knowing possible health hazards it can cause, he says.

It is all because of these reasons that Raja Foods of Skokie, Ilinois (United States) has recalled its cosmetics product containing kumkum and sindoor because of its high levels of lead content, according to the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).

The company's products like Abil, Gulal, Kanku, Kum Kum, Lagan Samagri kit, Pooja Samagri kit - distributed through Indian grocery stores in Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and
Wisconsin, have been recalled.

According to Dr Parashar, the presence of lead in cosmetics is strictly prohibited in countries like UK and USA. But, the Indian government seems to be least bothered about all these health issues.

"Even the Drug Controller General of India does not have any regulation in this regard nor do they pay heed to safety standards for consumers", he says.

Adding to the toxicity problem there's a flood of unbranded products in the Indian market. Even big shops in urban markets sell spurious or unbranded products without a list of ingredients, he adds.

The emergence of synthetic dye industry now offers a variety of brilliant and fast red dyes at a cheaper price. Nowadays, sindoor is produced from chemical dyes, synthetic materials and lead salts. Some of the manufactures produce it by powdering crude red lead (Pb3O4), reveal dermatologists.

Even imported products may not be free of such toxic metals. "The Chinese cosmetic products readily available in the market at lower price have cheaper chemicals and lots of 'fish gelatin' in them which damage the skin very badly," says the consmetic manufacturer Nanda.

"The multinational cosmetic companies, claiming wonders to consumers, have considerable amount of lead content and lead can well cause toxicity in human body", says Saurabh Nanda of Nature's Essence Pvt. Ltd.

"The known and proven cases of cancer and other diseases in females arising from the consistent use of kumkum are known to us but there may be other unnoticed malfunctions as well," Dr Parashar points out specifically who is also the Secretary of Indian Association of Dermatologist Venerelogist Leprologist (IADVL).

The regulations regarding the acceptable limits of lead concentration or ingredients must be fixed, asserts Dr Vohra adding that here should be a constant monitoring of sources and implementation of regulatory norms should be followed mandatorily.