DHAKA: Authorities in Bangladesh said yesterday they had sealed off a cosmetics factory in Dhaka for using harmful chemicals including mercury in skin-lightening creams.
A mobile court that disperses instant sentences sentenced the owner of the Botanic Aroma company to two years in prison and ordered the seizure of all of its products.
“They were putting the health of many young people under threat by luring them with claims about the magical skin-lightening power of their products,” magistrate Anwar Pasha said.
He said the raid on the factory followed extensive laboratory tests on four types of creams that the company produced.
Bangladesh banned the use of mercury in skin care products in 2006.
Slum fire in
Dhaka kills 11
DHAKA: At least 11 people, all women and children, died in Bangladesh as a fire swept through one of the biggest slums in the capital Dhaka early yesterday, police said.
Officials said the blaze started in a rickshaw garage as thousands of residents in the Boubazaar shanty town were sleeping.
“The victims were five women and six children. They were burnt to death,” local police chief Rafiqul Islam said from the scene.
“The fire service and the locals have brought the blaze under control. Scores of people were also seriously injured,” Islam said.
Agencies
