TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has discovered 17 cosmetic products containing dangerous substances based on an investigation conducted from January to March this year.

"These 17 cosmetic products did not meet the required safety, usage, and quality standards before being distributed," said BPOM’s Lucky S. Slamet in Jakarta yesterday.

The monitoring agency said the products contained at least three dangerous substances such as hydroquinone, mercury and retinoic acid.

Lucky explained that these 17 products were produced or distributed by six different companies under different brands including Green Alvina, Tabita and Haifa. These products are sold online, in beauty clinics, and in salons costing approximately Rp700,000 (around $71) to Rp2,000,000 (around $205) per unit. Lucky added that it is difficult to monitor these products because they are sold freely.

Lucky promised that the monitoring agency would take legal action based on their findings. In the past five years, the BPOM has already taken 268 cases to court with the maximum punishment served amounting to two years and one month in prison.

The BPOM director of licensing and certification of traditional medicine, cosmetics and complimentary products, Sukiman Said Umar, admitted that monitoring online products is extremely difficult. The BPOM has partnered with the Ministry of Communication and Information to help monitor online sales.

In response, Herbal Green Alvina clinic denied the allegations of distributing dangerous products. In addition, the management of PT Haifa Paraestetiderma stated that they already replaced the ingredients of the two products the BPOM deemed dangerous and received licenses for these products in December 2012.

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