Sales of illegal and dangerous skin creams are a growing problem and the authorities find it hard to cope.
Illegally sold skin creams and soaps, that can cause permanent damage to children's skin and in severe cases stunt growth, are "a big problem" and one which the Irish Medicines Board is having difficulty controlling, the board's chief enforcement officer has warned.
Mr Hugo Bonar told The Irish Times that if co-ordination among the relevant authorities was not improved, sales of these "very harmful" products would continue to grow.
His unit at the IMB employs six enforcement officers. Asked whether this was enough, he said:
"Well, the six have to cover the whole country. And we have recently also become the enforcement officers for medical devices, enforcing standards for things like walking sticks, pace-makers, orthopaedic beds."
Dangerous and illegal skin creams are sold under such brands names as Top-Gel, Neutrotone, Dark Lovely and Palmers Skin Success and are sold mainly in ethnic shops but have also appeared as supposedly "herbal" remedies in shops frequented by all members of the public.
The creams contain corticosteroids - prescription-only medicines - and are sold to self-treat skin conditions such as eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis, and to lighten skin.
"The problem," said Mr Bonar, "is that they should be used under medical supervision. People don't know what's in them and they start using them with no controls on how much to use or for how long.
"When they start using the cream it's working initially and people think it's great. But the creams can make the condition worse, can permanently damage the skin, strip the skin to the point where the veins are visible and, in extreme cases, stunt growth."
A number of high-profile prosecutions in recent years, notably that of Mr Donal Walsh in Limerick in 2001, for selling a steroid-containing eczema cream under the brand name Cherrydex, have seen creams removed from sale.
In January this year, Chinese herbalist Mr Wanh Men Leong was fined €500 for selling a cream, containing skin-thinning steroids to treat psoriasis, called 999 Piyan Ping. Many people had bought it for treating their children.
However, the creams, "keep popping up again," said Mr Bonar, "and are being sold in more and more places. . .they can be found in shops in several streets in north inner city Dublin, and . . . Mullingar, Drogheda, Ennis, Athlone, Cork, Galway, where do you want me to stop?"
He has seen the creams for sale on low shelves easily reached by children.
"Just think of the danger of that," he said. "These are very harmful and have to be taken off the market."
He also highlighted the danger of mercury soaps, used for skin lightening. Mercury iodide is prescription only and used unsupervised can poison through the skin. Mercury can have a drastic effect on the skin, brain, kidneys and all other organs, and also on unborn children.
Mr Bonar knows of 12 brands of mercury soap illegally on the market, under such brand names as Merako and Mekako.
Most of these products are coming from Nigeria and South Africa, some via London, Paris and Brussels, said Mr Bonar, through the post and in passenger baggage.
He said his officers had made a number of significant seizures, including one at Dublin port last week of 400 items of illegal cosmetics and another in Ennis of 1,100 items of cosmetics containing prescription-only ingredients. "We seized 800 items in one shop alone last month," he said.
"We need to co-ordinate what we're doing with interested parties," particularly with the postal services and Customs officers.
People should look on labels for: a registered manufacturer, and agent or distributor in the EU, a best-before date, full list of ingredients including percentages of active ingredients and the label must be in English or Irish.