SINGAPORE: A woman is accused of selling skin cream containing listed poisons including a potent steroid on Shopee to multiple users in Singapore.
The cream, called Star Cream or “xing xing gao”, is the same one the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) sent an alert over in June last year, after application of the cream led to a baby suffering Cushing’s syndrome.
A serious medical condition caused by prolonged use of steroids, Cushing’s syndrome is characterised by a round face or “moon face” appearance and upper body obesity with thin limbs, HSA said.
Chin Sook Yee, a 30-year-old Malaysian woman, 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 on Shopee under the shop name Starcream_homemade official to four buyers between Jan 1, 2022 and May 30, 2022.
Some 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 includ ketocanozole, 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.
PAST HSA ALERT
According to an alert by HSA on Jun 9, 2022, an infant was hospitalised for a serious adverse reaction after using Star Cream for diaper rash.
The four-month-old boy had Star Cream applied on him for diaper rash since he was two weeks old. He was hospitalised for steroid toxicity and had persistent vomiting, abnormal eye alignment and a bulging soft part of his skull consistent with signs of increased brain pressure.
He was discharged and went home to recover, but required long-term follow-up to monitor the side effects of steroid toxicity, HSA said.
The parents of the boy bought Star Cream online on the recommendation of their confinement nanny. It was marketed as a homemade cream with natural herbal extracts and suitable for all skin types.
At the time, HSA said its analysis of the product revealed two synthetic medicinal ingredients including a potent steroid, contrary to its claims that it contained “all natural herbal extracts” and no steroids.
HSA said it worked with local e-commerce and social media platforms such as Carousell, Shopee and Facebook to remove the affected listings.