India’s Delhi High Court addresses PIL on steroids in skin creams

India’s Delhi High Court has addressed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists, and Leprologists (IADVL) on the presence of steroids in various skin creams.

The court has issued a notice to the country’s government asking the Health and Family Welfare Ministry and the Central Drug Standards and Control Organisation (CDSCO) to submit their response on the PIL before 23 January next year.

The plea urges a ban on the manufacture and sale of steroid-containing creams marketed for conditions such as pigmentation, itching, fairness, and inflammation, reported DD News.

IADVL further called for a high-level investigation seeking clarification on CDSCO approval given for commercial manufacture, use, and sale of such products.

The PIL alleged that these corticosteroids can lead to serious adverse effects on health such as growth retardation in infants and children, Cushing’s syndrome, and suppression of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis.

A statement in the PIL read: “In spite of the fact that these drugs can cause such serious adverse effects, they are sold without medical prescription or control and there is little awareness about the adverse effects among the general public.”

The litigation went on to add that even supposed herbal creams contained steroids.

Allegedly, two-thirds of a total of more than $500m steroid cream sales are carried out without prescription, the news channel reported.