PUTRAJAYA: A total of 14,200 cosmetic products unregistered with the Health Ministry, worth RM8.5 million, have been seized between 2015 and this year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said, from 2013 to this year, approvals for 47 beauty items have also been revoked as the products contained dangerous substance such as hyrdoquionone, tretinoin and mercury.
"The ministry is also monitoring advertisements and sale of beauty products online. In 2016, 304 websites and accounts on social network sites were investigated.
"Another 300 were found to have breached the law and the cases were presented to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Facebook and Google for further action," he told a press conference here today.
During an operation codenamed 'Ops Cosmetic', Dr Subramaniam said various pharmaceutical injections such as botox, vitamin C and placenta worth RM779,663 were also seized by the ministry's pharmaceutical division.
The items were seized from 66 beauty parlours, spas, aesthectic clinics and cosmetic shops, among others, nationwide as of yesterday.
"Beauticians and beauty salons are not allowed administer injection treatments on the public. They risk facing stern action, which may include jail time of three years under the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 and immediate closure of their business," he said.
Beauty salons are not equipped to carry out such procedures, which can only be conducted by experts or doctors recognised by the ministry, he added.