The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency is warning the public to beware when buying cheap imported cosmetics from China and Thailand because a number contain toxic substances.
""There are 27 products, mainly those imported from China, that we found containing toxic substances like mercury and rhodamin B,"" agency head Husniah Rubiana Thamrin Akib said Monday.
Agency cosmetic and traditional medicine monitoring division deputy Ruslam Apan said the agency would reveal the names of the products Thursday.
Unscrupulous cosmetic producers use mercury as a preservative and long-term exposure to the chemical causes a range of illnesses.
Rhodamin B is a synthetic color agent commonly found in textile and paper products. Continued exposure to the substance can cause liver cancer.
The dangerous products are widely available in markets throughout cities in Java, including Jakarta, Ruslan said.
""We annually check around 8,000 product samples to test their safety. The 27 products were checked between the second half of 2005 and the first half of 2006,"" he said.
Most of the products failed to provide information about producers or distributors. This made it difficult for the agency to follow up the cases, Apan said.
""The products are sold either by streetside vendors or door-to-door,"" he added.
In a bid to protect consumers from health hazard, the agency has removed products from stores it has found sold in markets.
Previously, the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM) told the government to tighten controls on imported products, particularly those related to food and medicine.
It also suggested raiding unlicensed drugstores where such products are widely available.
The agency's last public warning on cosmetics was issued in 2004, when it identified 51 beauty products containing mercury and rhodamin B sold in markets in Jakarta and Riau.
Many of the products were whitening lotions and creams, imported from China and Thailand. Only three were registered with the agency.
In late January, the Jakarta Police announced they had seized 200 boxes of cosmetics containing mercury from a small manufacturing company in West Jakarta.
The company produced imitation Unilever products such as Dove skin lotion, and fake Procter & Gamble products like Olay skin moisturizer and Head & Shoulders shampoo.
