ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 pertains to stillbirths that occur in dark-skinned women. Women of color worldwide have idealized light skin. In the aftermath, those whose skin is dark are challenged to acquire light skin to increase their status on the marriage market or status in romantic appeal. They do so by application of bleaching creams. Bleaching creams are particularly popular in Africa and Asia amounting to a multi-million-dollar business industry. In some countries they have been banned creating a “black” market. They are banned due to their containing toxic ingredients. Some of these said ingredients are cancer causing. When such toxins are applied to the skin of pregnant women by way of the placenta they are ingested by an unborn foetus. The result is death by stillbirth. Women having dark skin experience a disproportionate number of stillbirths compared to white i.e.: light-skinned women. Medical investigators have failed to consider colorism via bleaching creams as the causal factor.
