The Gambia lawmakers vote against lifting ban on skin bleaching

President Adama Barrow’s government sought to lift the skin-bleaching ban last year, , arguing it discriminated against women.

CAPE TOWN, March 23 (ANA) – Legislators in The Gambia on Monday rejected a government proposal to lift a ban on the use and sale of skin-lightening products, according to French-based news agency AFP.

Skin lightening remains a controversial practice across Africa, with many seeing it as a toxic legacy of colonialism. The bleaching agents used to lighten skin also pose health risks, critics say.

Former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh banned the practice in 1996 but current President Adama Barrow’s government sought to lift the skin-bleaching ban last year, arguing that it discriminated against women.

According to the AFP report, Justice Minister Dawda Jallow also contended that criminalising people for using cosmetic products was an unfair punishment.

Twenty-three MPs voted to uphold the ban, with just 10 supporting its repeal.

Health experts say many skin lightening products contain the bleaching agent hydroquinone, while some creams also have mercury.

According to the BBC, hydroquinone, described by the British Local Government Association as “the biological equivalent of paint stripper”, can remove the top layer of skin, increasing the risk of skin cancer while also causing fatal liver and kidney damage.

Last October, South Sudan made headlines after its citizens said they would continue to bleach their skin despite a 2019 government ban on such products.

According to World Health Organisation data, the practice of skin lightening is rife across Africa with 77 percent of women in Nigeria, 59 percent in Togo, 35 percent in South Africa, 27 percent in Senegal and 25 percent in Mali saying they use bleaching products.

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa