Fairness cream industry instilled in men a complex of becoming whiter: Zartaj Gul Wazir.

KARACHI -- State Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir has voiced concern over various cosmetic products, including skin-whitening creams, saying the industry was not compliant with relevant standards.

Speaking at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday, Zartaj Gul said the fairness cream industry had instilled in men a complex of having a whiter complexion and was "hellbent on making us lighter".

The fairness cream industry, she claimed, was making use of clever advertisements to create an impression that everyone should have a lighter skin tone.

"We're being forcefully sold cosmetics and we're being made sick through them," the state minister stressed, vowing never to let any company play with people's skin in the future again.

Zartaj Gul said her ministry had carried out laboratory tests for mercury content in 59 brands of skin-whitening creams, of...