Dhaka, Aug. 4 -- The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) on Tuesday warned consumers against purchasing, selling, distributing, stocking or using eight brands of skin-whitening creams after laboratory tests detected mercury at dangerously high levels, far exceeding the country's permissible safety limit.

BSTI said the mercury content in the products exceeded the maximum permissible limit of 1.00 parts per million (ppm) set under the Bangladesh Standard (BDS 1382), posing serious health risks to users.

According to the standards body, the skin-whitening creams are not legally imported into Bangladesh. Instead, they are believed to enter the country through passengers' luggage or other illegal channels, preventing BSTI fro...