Take a walk down River Road in Nairobi, and you will find skin-lightening products openly displayed on shop shelves and street stalls, promising brighter skin, flawless beauty and a supposedly better version of oneself.

The disturbing question is not simply why Kenyans are buying these products, but why potentially dangerous skin-bleaching products are so visible in our markets, and where are the regulators?

Skin bleaching is more than a beauty trend. It is a public health concern fuelled by colourism, social pressure and an industry that profits from people's insecurities. Kenya must stop treating it as a harmless cosmetic preference and confront the risks before preventable harm becomes a national concern.

The BBC's documentary on skin bleaching in Nigeria should serve as a wake-up call for Kenya. We cannot afford to wait for a similar public health crisis before taking decisive action.

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB), the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and relevant public health authorities have important roles in ensuring that products within their respective mandates meet applicable safety requirements.

Yet the open availability of skin-lightening products raises legitimate questions about market surveillance, product testing and enforcement.

Are products being tested to verify their ingredients? Are importers and distributors complying with safety standards? How often are retailers inspected? And when prohibited or non-compliant products are discovered, are they withdrawn promptly and those responsible held accountable?

Some skin-lightening products contain mercury, potent corticosteroids or hydroquinone in unsafe concentrations or formulations. Depending on the substance and exposure, these products can cause skin damage, infections and other serious complications. Mercury exposure can damage the kidneys and nervous system.

Kenya's regulators must move beyond occasional inspections and public warnings. River Road and other high-risk markets require consistent, intelligence-led inspections, laboratory testing and effective tracking of products from importation to retail.

PPB, Kebs, county public health departments and customs authorities should strengthen coordination to identify unsafe products, investigate their supply chains and take appropriate enforcement action. Online sellers must not be overlooked, particularly where misleading claims and unverified products are being promoted.

Regulators should also publish accessible information on recalled or prohibited products, communicate enforcement outcomes and provide simple channels for consumers to report suspicious products or adverse reactions.

The Ministry of Health should complement enforcement with public education, involving dermatologists, schools, the media and civil society. Consumers need reliable information about the dangers of unregulated bleaching products and where to seek professional skincare advice.

Regulation alone will not eliminate skin bleaching. Society must challenge the dangerous notion that lighter skin is more beautiful, successful or worthy of admiration. Advertisers, influencers and beauty businesses must stop reinforcing insecurities that turn natural skin colour into a perceived defect.

But public education cannot replace enforcement. Kenyans should not be left to navigate shelves of potentially dangerous products without adequate protection.

River Road is a test of Kenya's commitment to consumer safety. Our regulators must demonstrate that product safety laws are more than words on paper.

The message is simple: beauty should never come at the cost of health. Black skin is not a problem to be fixed, and bleaching is not a price anyone should have to pay for acceptance. Kenya must act now. Our skin deserves protection, not punishment.