HUYE - Consumers have a big role to play in fighting substandard products on the market, the Director General of Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) has said.

Dr. Mark Bagabe Cyubahiro’s remarks follow reports that some products especially cosmetics supposed to be sold by pharmacists are being traded freely in many shops and beauty parlors.

He says selling certain products on the open market -especially cosmetics -puts to risk the life of consumers who are mostly ignorant about their chemical composition.

Many of these products contain chemicals like betamethasone which has negative impact on the skin. .

"RBS cannot control this trade all alone, we need the cooperation of consumers by reporting the presence of such risky products on the market,” Dr. Bagabe told The New Times.

Dermatologists say that the consequences of using products containing such substances pose various forms of dangers. According to the dermatologists, those products should only be found in pharmacies.

"Such products should purely be traded by pharmacists who are in position to give advice to patients on how they are used.

Trading them everywhere and by whoever deems it profitable is risky because medical products can be poisonous if not used with care,” said Dr Nicodème Rukeribuga, the head of Dermatology at Butare University Teaching Hospital (CHUB).

Residents who used products containing Betamethasone have complained about side effects from such products, it was revealed.

"I used a product known as Diproson that I bought from the open market. When I noticed  that I was getting white marks on my skin, I immediately stopped its use,” said one consumer who preferred anonymity.  

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