Beauty treatments come at a cost - not just in terms of money but the health hazards that people face due to the substandard materials and uncertified methods used.

One of these risky procedures is the glutathione injection. The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) yesterday ordered cosmetic clinics across the nation to not use this chemical as part of skin-whitening treatments.

Cosmetic clinics were also ordered to stop advertising this procedure because it had failed to get FDA approval.

The move came after the FDA and Consumer Protection Suppression Division caught 24-year-old Varuth Makroodthong on Tuesday illegally selling vials of glutathione and providing injections inside his car parked at the Tops Supermarket's Kasetsart University branch.