KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has advised the public to stop using and buying two cosmetic products found to contain scheduled poison, namely hydroquinone and tretinoin which can be harmful to health.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today said, the products are Beautywise Rejuvenating Cream and Beautywise Rejuvenating Toner.
He said the products' notifications had been cancelled by the Health Ministry's Pharmaceutical Services senior director and were no longer allowed to be sold in the country.
"The unsupervised usage of hydroquinone can cause skin redness upon application, discomfort, skin discolouration, hypersensitivity, and inhibits the pigmentation process (depigmentation) which reduces the skin's ability to be protected from harmful UV rays and increases the risk of skin cancer.
"The unsupervised usage of tretinoin can cause redness to the skin, discomfort, stinging, peeling and sensitivity to sunlight," the statement said.
Dr Noor Hisham also advised consumers to stop using the products and seek advice from healthcare professionals if they are experiencing any discomfort or adverse effects.
The public is encouraged to check the notification status of a cosmetic product at the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA)'s official website www.npra.gov.my or through the 'NPRA Product Status' application that can be downloaded at Google Play Store.
Dr Noor Hisham warned all sellers and distributors to stop the sales and distribution of the products immediately as selling or distributing these cosmetic products is an offence under the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984.
Individuals who commit the offence could be fined not more than RM25,000 or face a maximum of three years imprisonment, or both, for the first offence and fined not more than RM50,000 or a maximum of five years imprisonment, or both, for subsequent offences.
"Companies which commit the offence could be fined up to RM50,000 the first time and RM100,000 for subsequent offences," he said.