India's Drug Regulator Flags Two Pakistan-Made Whitening Creams Over Excessive Heavy Metals

NEW DELHI — The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has issued a public health alert against two skin-whitening creams manufactured in Pakistan, warning Indian consumers not to purchase or use the products after testing found heavy metal content exceeding permissible safety limits. The alert, issued through a public notice dated September 8, 2026, identifies the two products as Chandni Whitening Cream and Goree Beauty Cream, both labelled "Made in Pakistan."

According to CDSCO, testing and analysis confirmed that both products are unauthorised for sale in India and lack the registration certificate legally required for the import and sale of cosmetics in the country. "The CDSCO, through testing and analysis, has verified that the following cosmetic products are unauthorised," the regulator said in its notice, adding that both creams contain heavy metals beyond specified limits, which may expose users to health risks, including toxic effects.

Who Makes These Products, and Why They Shouldn't Be in India at All

The two flagged products trace back to specific manufacturers in Lahore. Goree Beauty Cream is produced by Goree Cosmetics, while Chandni Whitening Cream is manufactured by SJ Enterprises, according to details drawn from the CDSCO notice. Neither company holds the registration certificate that Indian regulations require for any cosmetic product entering the country from abroad.

What makes this case particularly notable is that these products should not have been available in India at all, irrespective of their safety profile. India currently maintains a broader restriction on the direct or indirect import of goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, a policy that has been in place amid the countries' long-strained trade relationship. The presence of these two creams in the Indian market therefore points to a compliance failure on two separate fronts, the products lack cosmetic registration under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Cosmetics Rules, 2020, and their entry into India appears to sidestep the wider prohibition on Pakistani-origin goods altogether.

Adding to the concern, reports have found listings for both creams on multiple major e-commerce platforms operating in India, including Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Tata 1mg and Snapdeal. Some of these listings reportedly described the products as "Made in India," despite their own packaging identifying Pakistan as the country of origin, raising separate questions about how such mislabelling made it past platform-level product verification checks.

What the Testing Found, and What It Didn't Say

CDSCO's notice confirms that both creams were found to contain heavy metals beyond specified limits, and that this poses a risk of toxic effects to users. What the notice does not do, notably, is specify exactly which heavy metals were detected in the two products or at what concentrations they were found, a gap that several outlets covering the alert have flagged directly. That means the regulatory warning establishes a clear safety and compliance concern without, on its own, identifying a precise toxicological breakdown or attributing any specific illness in any individual consumer to these products.

Some additional context has emerged from state-level regulators. Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration has separately listed Goree Beauty Cream in its own alert database in connection with non-compliance issues involving mercury and heavy metals, suggesting this is not the first time this particular brand has drawn regulatory scrutiny within India.

Heavy metal contamination in unregulated skin-whitening products is a well-documented health concern globally, not unique to this case. Mercury, one of the metals most commonly implicated in whitening creams of this kind, is associated with damage to the nervous system and kidneys with repeated exposure, and toxic metals more broadly can accumulate in the body over time, affecting multiple organ systems depending on the specific substance involved and the duration of exposure.

Not the First Time Goree Has Drawn International Scrutiny

The Goree Beauty Cream brand specifically has a documented history of regulatory action well beyond India's borders. In the Philippines, the country's Food and Drug Administration has issued repeated public health warnings against several Goree-branded products, including Goree Beauty Cream with Lycopene, Goree Day & Night Beauty Cream, and Goree Gold 24K Beauty Cream, according to the EcoWaste Coalition, a Manila-based environmental watchdog group. Despite those repeated advisories, the group noted that retailers and online sellers across dozens of Philippine cities and municipalities have continued selling the products regardless.

New York City's health department has also flagged Goree Beauty Cream, manufactured by Goree Cosmetics (Pvt.) Ltd. in Pakistan, on its own list of skin-whitening products found to contain mercury, alongside other Pakistani-made brands such as Golden Pearl Beauty Cream and various Infocus Cosmetology products. That warning specifically noted that mercury is a toxic substance capable of causing health damage, and advised residents to stop using any such products immediately if identified.

This pattern of recurring international alerts against the same manufacturer suggests the concerns raised by India's CDSCO this month fit into a broader, previously documented safety issue associated with certain unregulated Pakistani cosmetic exports, rather than representing an isolated or newly emerged problem specific to the Indian market.

What CDSCO Has Directed Authorities and Consumers to Do

Beyond the consumer-facing warning, CDSCO's notice carries direct regulatory instructions. The organisation has directed establishments and individuals not to sell, distribute or advertise either product anywhere in the country. State and Union Territory Drugs Controllers, along with CDSCO's own zonal, sub-zonal and port offices, have been instructed to ensure that neither Chandni Whitening Cream nor Goree Beauty Cream, nor similarly named cosmetic products, are sold within their respective jurisdictions.

For consumers, the regulator's guidance is direct, do not purchase these products, and if they have already been bought, do not use them. CDSCO has also used the alert as an opportunity to issue broader guidance on verifying the authenticity of any cosmetic product before purchase. It has advised consumers to check that packaging carries a valid manufacturing licence number along with the manufacturer's details, to verify the batch number, manufacturing date and expiry date printed on any cosmetic product, and, specifically for imported cosmetics, to confirm that a valid registration number is present on the packaging before buying.

India's cosmetics sector operates under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the more recently introduced Cosmetics Rules, 2020, which together govern how cosmetic products must be manufactured, imported and sold within the country. Under this framework, any cosmetic product intended for sale or distribution in India, whether manufactured domestically or imported from abroad, is required to meet defined safety standards and carry proper registration before it can legally reach consumers.

CDSCO's stated position in the notice is unambiguous on this point, cosmetic products "must be safe for the public," and the presence of unauthorised, unregistered imports carrying elevated heavy metal content represents exactly the kind of gap this regulatory structure is designed to close. Whether this alert leads to further enforcement action against the e-commerce platforms where these products were reportedly being sold, or triggers a wider review of how Pakistani-origin cosmetics have continued to enter the Indian market despite existing trade restrictions, remains to be seen in the weeks following this notice.