THE Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has disclosed a new style of smuggling of substandard products as women traders hide some low-quality cosmetics in their underpants.
In an interview with ‘ Daily News’ at the weekend, TBS Acting Head for the Lake Zone Evalist Mrema said some women were smuggling cosmetics with prohibited ingredients detrimental to health.
He said through market surveillance conducted recently, dishonest traders – both men and women – smuggled low quality products from neighbouring countries into Mwanza City.
“We have seized different substandard products, including cosmetics with prohibited ingredients that pose health risks, hiding them in underpants,” said Mr Mrema.
According to Mr Mrema, smuggling inferior products using such tricky methods comes as TBS intensifies inspection and surveillance campaigns across all entry points, calling on law-abiding Tanzanians to keep on tipping off his office about such tricks.
Over 800kg of prohibited cosmetics worth over 15m/- were impounded at a local market and destroyed.
Mr Mrema warned all traders defying laws and regulations governing manufacturing, supply, marketing and consumption of different food and non-food commodities that their days were numbered.
Expounding on that, TBS senior inspector Nuru Mwasulama said manufacturers of substandard products, particularly cosmetics, were increasingly flocking the local market to detriment of consumers, calling on members of the public to be observant.
She said many users of substandard cosmetics were women although men were equally at risk of health hazards especially those using products like aftershaves.
“The consequences of using substandard foodstuffs and cosmetics are many, including different cancers as a result of skin bleaching with toxic ingredients containing mercury compounds,” she said.
Ms Mwasulama, however, said TBS had a number of strategies, including raising public awareness and ongoing market surveillance.
