BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Four of 13 major department stores in Beijing and some shops in Hong Kong have removed SK-II skincare products Saturday after the detection of banned heavy metals in the nine Japanese beauty products.

However, Procter and Gamble (Japan), the owner of SK-II, denied it had added the substances to its products and said at 8 p.m. (Beijing time) Friday it would cooperate with the authorities to resolve the issue.

The four major department stores selling SK-II products in Beijing are Zhongyou store, Zhuangshengchongguang Store, Wangfujing Store and Scite Plaza.

Furthermore, all of the 13 major department stores refund the purchase price of SK-II products but with three conditions:

Firstly, you should have the related receipt.

Secondly, you should provide hospital certification that you are allergic to SK-II products.

Thirdly, there must be more than one-third of the product remaining.

China's national quality watchdog urged its local branches to increase supervision of cosmetics products imported from Japan on Friday.

The customs department in Hong Kong also said it would conduct lab tests on the samples it had collected to see whether they contained the two substances.

On Thursday, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the quality authorities in South China's Guangdong Province detected chromium and neodymium, heavy metals that are forbidden ingredients of cosmetics in China, in SK-II cosmetics. The products included nine facial creams and lotions.

The Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau found a type of SK-II cosmetic containing 4.5 mg/kg of neodymium. It also found chromium in some other types of SK-II cosmetics, with a rate of 0.77 mg/kg to 2.0 mg/kg.

According to China's Regulations on Hygienic Standards for Cosmetics (GB1976), cosmetics should not contain chromium or neodymium.

Experts said chromium could cause skin diseases such as allergic dermatitis and eczema, which is very hard to cure. Neodymium can cause irritation of the eyes and mucosa. If inhaled, the substance can damage the lung and liver. Enditem