Bangladesh bans several Pakistani fairness creams for harmful substances
Dhaka/IBNS: After tests found harmful substances like mercury in exceeding level than what is permissible, the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution or BSTI has banned eight Pakistani skin fairness creams, media reports said.
The BSTI banned import and sale of the products by any means, including e-commerce, Abu Hanif, an assistant director of the institution’s Certification Marks Department, told bdnews24.
It will take the next steps on the products after consulting other government agencies, he told the news portal.
According to reports, BSTI tested 13 fairness creams that were collected from the market and e-commerce platform Daraz in the past month.
The levels of mercury and hydroquinone were dangerously high for human health in six of the products, according to the tests, reported bdnews24.
If a person uses the products for a long time then that can cause skin disease and other health issues.
The eight brands are Goree of Goree Cosmetics, Chandni of SJ Enterprise, New Face Cream of QC International, Dew of Creative Cosmetics, Golden Pearl of Golden Pearl Cosmetics, White Pearl Plus of White Pearl Cosmetics, Faiza of Punia Brothers, Noor of Noor Gold Cosmetics, reported bdnews24.
Hanif told the news portal that the institution warned Daraz against marketing those products.
Shayantani Twisha, spokeswoman for Daraz, told bdnews24that the BSTI had sent a list of 181 products and said these required licence.
“We are not fully responsible because we are not the sellers. But we’ve taken the issue seriously to ensure that the customers get good products by using our website,” she said.
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