- It's scary, says Birgit Hakkarainen who performed the tests at the Medical Products Agency's laboratory in Uppsala.

SVT has previously reported on the risks of skin whitening products, which are popular in Asia and Africa but are also sold in Sweden.

This is the first time ever that a supervisory project of skin whitening products is carried out.

- What we think is so serious is that it does not say on the packaging that they contain these dangerous substances.

It is thought that it should not be on the shelves in Sweden, says the Medical Products Agency's investigator Elin Maria Berggren.

The products in question have now been reported to the EU's consumer product alert system.

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What is skin whitening and why can it be problematic?

Hear more in the clip.

Photo: Pontus Stark / SVT / Aya Batrawy / TT