Photo by Kiptarus: Professor Shital Maru from USIU-Africa Exposes Hidden Dangers in Cosmetics, Plastics, and Ultra-Processed Foods

The Holistic Health Crisis: It's Not Just Food and Alcohol

It starts with a lipbalm. Then a water bottle. Then the plastic bag wrapping your bread. Then the energy drink before gym. Then the ice pop a child buys at the school gate.

None of these products carries a warning. None of them is regulated. None of them tells you that you're absorbing petroleum chemicals into your bloodstream with every application, every sip, every meal.

Professor Shital Maru, Dean of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at USIU-Africa, spent her career understanding the systems that kill silently. Now she's raising her voice.

At the APHRC Spotlight event in Nairobi, she delivered a warning that goes beyond food safety, beyond alcohol regulation, beyond tobacco control.

The crisis extends to cosmetics, plastics, bread packaging, water bottles, energy drinks, and injection molding processes that deliver chemicals directly into bodies.

Vaseline, Lipbalms, and Cosmetics: The Bloodstream Connection

Professor Shital Maru identified cosmetics as a largely unregulated commercial determinant specifically impacting women:

The mechanism is direct. Petroleum-based cosmetics applied to lips and skin are absorbed into the bloodstream. Unlike food, which passes through digestive metabolism, topical applications enter circulation with minimal filtering.

Endometriosis, a condition affecting uterine tissue, has documented links to endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in petroleum-based cosmetics. Lipbalms and Vaseline marketed as moisturizers deliver these chemicals directly through the highly permeable skin of lips and face.

Yet Kenya has no comprehensive cosmetics safety framework. Products marketed as beauty essentials deliver endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, and carcinogens directly into women's bloodstreams.

Red Devil Ice Pops: Petroleum Dyes in Children's Mouths

Professor Maru specifically called out red-flavored ice pops and snacks marketed to children:

The "red devil" ice pops sold at school gates contain a devastating truth: they are loaded with petroleum-derived food dyes, the same base chemical used in plastics and cosmetics. These dyes accumulate in blood and organs.

Research links red dye consumption to behavioral changes in children, kidney stress, and allergic reactions. Yet these products remain unregulated, marketed as affordable treats for children in low-income neighborhoods.

Watch a child at a Nairobi school gate. The energy drink before gym. The ice pop after school. The plastic-wrapped vegetables at home. The bread bag in the kitchen. The lipbalm the mother applies.

By age ten, a child has been exposed to more petroleum chemicals than any previous generation in human history.

Energy Drinks Before Gym: The Cardiovascular Time Bomb

Professor Shital Maru addressed the growing trend of energy drink consumption among young adults exercising:

The marketing targets fitness-conscious young Kenyans. They believe energy drinks enhance performance. But the chemical composition, high caffeine levels combined with sugar and taurine, creates cardiovascular stress that exercise compounds rather than relieves.

Bread Packaging and Injection Molding: Plastics Before You Buy

Professor Maru expanded the analysis to everyday food packaging processes:

Injection molding is the process that creates plastic bottles and containers. During manufacturing, chemical additives and unreacted monomers remain in the final product. When these containers hold food or water, those chemicals migrate into what you consume.

Bread packaged in plastic bags absorbs phthalates from the packaging. The warmer and moister the bread, the faster the chemical migration. By the time bread reaches consumers, it's already contaminated with plastics.

Walk into any Nairobi supermarket. Look at the bread section. Every loaf is wrapped in plastic. Every loaf is absorbing chemicals right now.

Sodium Injection and Water Bottles: The Bloodstream Contamination

Professor Shital Maru connected water bottle use to direct bloodstream contamination:

Plastic water bottles contain not just microplastics. They contain sodium compounds used in manufacturing. When water sits in plastic bottles, especially in heat or sunlight, these compounds leach into the water.

Kenyans drinking bottled water believe they're choosing safety over tap water. But the plastic bottles themselves deliver sodium, microplastics, and endocrine disruptors with every sip.

The impact on blood composition is measurable: elevated sodium levels, presence of microplastic particles in bloodstream samples, and hormonal disruption from phthalate exposure.

The Fruit and Vegetable Trap: Healthy Food, Toxic Packaging

Professor Maru's analysis extended to what most Kenyans consider healthy food choices: fresh fruits and vegetables sold in plastic containers.

The problem is chemical migration. Fruits and vegetables packaged in plastic absorb phthalates, BPA, and other plasticizers from their packaging. The longer produce sits in plastic, the higher the contamination.

Supermarkets market pre-packaged produce as convenient and hygienic. But the plastic wrap and containers meant to preserve freshness are actively contaminating the food inside.

This creates a cruel irony: Kenyans trying to make healthy choices by buying fruits and vegetables are unknowingly consuming microplastics and endocrine disruptors along with their vitamins.

The solution Professor Maru advocates aligns with Brazil's nutrition guidelines:

Unpacking less means buying loose produce from open markets. Peeling more means removing the outer layers of fruits and vegetables that have been in direct contact with plastic packaging.

Microplastics in Food Containers: The Daily Poison

Professor Shital Maru issued an urgent warning about food storage and heating:

The chemistry is straightforward. Heating plastic containers releases microplastics and chemical additives into food. These particles accumulate in blood, organs, and tissue.

Research confirms the scale: Kenyans consuming microwaved food from plastic containers are ingesting measurable quantities of phthalates, BPA, and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals daily.

The ceramic warning is equally serious: decorative ceramics marketed as cookware often contain lead-based glazes. Acidic foods cooked in these vessels leach lead directly into meals.

Potassium and Sodium Imbalances: The Silent Killer

Professor Maru identified mineral imbalances as a critical but overlooked driver of disease:

Ultra-processed foods are engineered for maximum salt content. Meanwhile, potassium, which balances sodium's cardiovascular effects, is stripped during processing.

But sodium exposure now comes from multiple sources: processed food salt, sodium compounds leaching from plastic bottles, and contaminated water systems.

The result: Kenyans face sodium overload from industrial food, plastic packaging, and water bottles simultaneously, while lacking the potassium needed to mitigate cardiovascular stress.

The Construction Industry's Role: Lead Paint and Toxic Materials

Professor Maru extended the commercial determinants framework to construction:

Lead paint, banned in most developed countries, remains widely available in Kenya. Children in homes painted with lead-based products face cognitive impairment and behavioral disorders.

Sinedol and similar sealants marketed for flooring release volatile organic compounds affecting respiratory health and contributing to indoor air pollution.

Pharmaceutical Wastewater: The Antibiotic in Your Water

Professor Shital Maru addressed pharmaceutical contamination:

Kenya's water treatment infrastructure cannot filter pharmaceutical residues. Antibiotics, hormones, and other medications flushed through sewage systems return through municipal water supplies.

Populations exposed to low-dose antibiotics in drinking water develop resistant bacterial strains. Hormonal contraceptives in water affect reproductive development.

This is why bacterial infections requiring first-line antibiotics increasingly need second and third-line treatments.

What Kenya Must Do: Professor Mary's Framework

Professor Shital Maru outlined specific interventions:

Cosmetics Regulation: Establish safety testing for all cosmetics. Ban petroleum-based lipbalms and products containing endocrine disruptors.

Energy Drink Warning Labels: Require health warnings on energy drinks. Ban marketing that links these products to athletic performance.

Food Container Standards: Prohibit plastic containers for microwave use. Require glass or stainless steel alternatives.

Water Bottle Reform: Ban single-use plastic water bottles. Require safety testing for reusable bottles.

Bread Packaging Standards: Mandate food-grade packaging materials. Ban phthalate-containing plastic bags.

Red Dye Ban: Prohibit petroleum-derived food colorings in products marketed to children.

Produce Packaging Reform: Ban plastic packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Ceramic Safety Certification: Mandate lead testing for all cookware.

Water Treatment Upgrades: Invest in pharmaceutical filtration systems.

Construction Material Safety: Require lead-free certification for paint. Ban VOC-releasing sealants.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? DROP A COMMENT

QUESTION 1: Greatest Health Threat In Your Household

What's the biggest health risk you face from these products right now?

• A) Cosmetics and lipbalms

• B) Plastic packaging on food

• C) Energy drinks

• D) Water bottles

• E) Red food dyes in snacks

• F) Pharmaceutical waste in water

Comment example: "Q1 B" or "Q1 B

QUESTION 2: Who Should Protect You

In your opinion, who is responsible for keeping these dangerous products out of your life?

• A) National government through regulation

• B) County government acting locally

• C) Companies regulating themselves

• D) Individual consumers making smart choices

• E) International standards from WHO

• F) Nobody can stop this system

Comment example: "Q2 A"

QUESTION 3: Would You Change Your Habits

If you knew for certain these products cause disease, would you stop buying them?

• A) Yes, I'd change immediately no matter the cost

• B) I'd try but safer alternatives are too expensive

• C) The convenience is worth the risk to me

• D) I honestly didn't know the risks were this serious

• E) I don't trust the research yet

• F) I'm already trying to avoid these products

Comment example: "Q3 B, lipbalm is everywhere and I can't find safe alternatives"

QUESTION 4: What Should Kenya Regulate First

If the government could only fix ONE problem first, which matters most for your family?

• A) Cosmetics and lipbalm safety

• B) Plastic food packaging restrictions

• C) Energy drink marketing bans

• D) Water bottle manufacturing standards

• E) Red dye bans in children's products

• F) Pharmaceutical wastewater treatment

• G) All of them at the same time

Comment example: "Q4 B

QUESTION 5: Do You Trust Your Government On This

Do you believe your government will actually regulate these industries to protect you?

• A) Completely, government has my back

• B) Mostly, they try but industry lobbies too hard

• C) Barely, political interference ruins everything

• D) Not at all, government is captured by corporations

• E) It depends which level of government

• F) Only if there's massive public pressure forcing them

Comment example: "Q5 D