Parents of children who have suffered from severe hair loss after using a lice shampoo want to start a support group to pressure the government to remove the product from the shelves.
The parents say no more children should face the risk of the adverse side effects of Gambex, a lice treatment that can be bought over the counter at pharmacies. They are seeking legal advice.
Gambex contains lindane, a dangerous ingredient used in pesticides, also known as gamma benzene hexachloride (GBH).
Lindane is such a powerful neurotoxin that the department of agriculture has banned any pesticide containing it for agricultural use from March in 2009.
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The risks of human use of Gambex shampoo came to light in South Africa after Lachlan van Rensburg, now living in Australia, fell ill with aplastic anaemia, a rare adverse reaction to lindane use, following his repeated use of the shampoo.
The Medicines Control Council has launched an investigation but the product is still on pharmacy shelves.
Last weekend Weekend Argus carried an article about a 17-year-old girl who suffers from alopecia (hair loss), which she believes was caused by using Gambex.
This week more parents came forward saying their children suffered from the same condition and all of them had used Gambex or Quellada, another shampoo containing lindane.
Tubby Currie of Stellenbosch said Gambex and Quellada had been used on his daughter, now nine, when she caught lice after starting primary school and, "to our horror", by the age of seven she had lost all her hair.
Currie and his wife used the products more than once, but it never crossed their minds that this or any other anti-lice product would have such severe effects.
"We noticed small hair loss behind the ears first and this got progressively worse over four months.
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