M’sian Seller Gets Charged For Selling Skin Cream Containing Poison in S’pore

A Malaysian woman has been accused of selling skin cream containing listed poisons including a potent steroid on a shopping platform to multiple users in Singapore.

According to CNA, the cream, called Star Cream or “xing xing gao”, is the same one the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) had sent an alert over in June last year, after the application of the cream led to a baby suffering from Cushing’s syndrome.

The woman named Chin Sook Yee, faces 11 charges of selling poisons without a licence under the Poisons Act. She returned to court on Thursday (Nov 30) for a further mention of her case, after being charged earlier this month.

According to charge sheets, she sold the cream which was marketed as a homemade cream with natural herbal extracts and suitable for all skin types on an online shopping platform under the shop name Starcream_homemade official to 4 buyers between Jan 1, 2022, and May 30, 2022, and some had even bought the product multiple times.

The bottles of cream were analysed and found to contain substances that are listed as poisons in the Poisons Act. These include ketoconazole, a medicine for fungal infections with side effects like burning and stinging, and clobetasol propionate, a potent steroid.

If convicted of selling poisons without a licence, Chin can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.

Meanwhile, the HSA said it is working with local e-commerce and social media platforms to remove the affected listings.

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Also read: S’porean Woman Almost Gets Scammed By Tinder Date In Taiwan, Convenience Store Clerk Calls Police