UK shoppers warned over spread of harmful and illegal skin lightening kits

The former chair of the CTSI said she was ‘deeply concerned about the social pressures that fuel demand for these products’. Photograph: Somnath Mahata/Getty Images

Illegal skin lightening products are being sold in an increasingly wide range of UK outlets, including butchers, specialist food shops and small grocery stores, trading standards officers have warned.

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is warning that many of the products contain substances that are banned because of the serious risks they pose to health, including skin damage, infections and pregnancy complications.