Jakarta, IO – The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) issued warning against five types of illegal cosmetics that are widely sold on online marketplace throughout 2023. They are reported to contain harsh chemicals that can cause skin cancer.
The results of BPOM’s “cyber patrol” across several online shopping platforms from January to September found 1,447 links touting HB Dosting. It is the fifth most popular cosmetic product marketing-wise. The danger is real as HB Dosting contain banned ingredients including hydroquinone and steroids.
The fourth most popular product is Tati Skincare with 1,791 links. This one was even found to have three toxic substances — mercury, hydroquinone and tretinoin.
At the third place is Tabita Skincare which is sold without a distribution permit. The manufacturer is alleged to deliberately blend mercury and hydroquinone in their products to give the support its claim of instant result.
The second most popular is Diamond Cream, which has 6,986 links. It was also found to contain mercury. The most notorious one is HN cream, with 8,116 links. Other than containing mercury, it also does not have a distribution permit.
“Unfortunately, the growth in cosmetics sales online has also been accompanied by the growth of sellers peddling illegal cosmetics without distribution permits and containing dangerous or prohibited ingredients,” said BPOM in its official statement, Mon (27/11).
“In response to this issue, BPOM routinely carries out surveillance in the digital space to tackle the problem of illegal cosmetics in the online shopping platforms,” the agency said. (rr)