Bangladesh Standards & Testing Institution (BSTI) on Monday announced finding dangerous level of harmful mercury in eight whitening creams made by Pakistani companies.

According to BSTI standard, the tolerable level of mercury in skin cream is only 1ppm while hydroquinone level is 5ppm. If anyone uses creams with excessive level of these chemicals, the person can suffer from various skin diseases.

In a statement, BSTI said the mercury level was found to be 755.85ppm in Goree cream Goree Cosmetics, 629.96ppm in SM Enterprise’s Chadni brand cream, 590.38ppm in QC International’s New Face cream, 285.88ppm in Creative Cosmetics’ Due cream, 654.13ppm in Golden Pearl Cosmetics Pvt Ltd’s Golden Perl cream, and 590.45ppm in Punia Brothers’ Faiza cream.

Noor Gold Cosmetics’ Noor cream has 193.68ppm mercury and 1980.68ppm hydroquinone, and White Pearl Plus’s White Plus Pearl cream has 948.93ppm mercury and 434.73ppm hydroquinone.

BSTI said its regular surveillance team bought the creams from the markets.

It has ordered importers, shop owners, and online sellers to stop selling these creams as soon as possible in public interest and warned of punitive measures if anyone violates the directive.

The government agency also urged the people not to buy these creams.