With the approach of Halloween, the Australian consumer watchdog warned of horror make-up facepaint which may contain lead that could be deadly to users.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) discovered among 95 products aimed at young children that it tested on brand had lead. It is the Horror Make Up label.

Lead causes skin to be sensitive while exposure to the heavy metal could result in permanent developmental and behavioural problems. There are some cases in which children died due to lead poisoning.

The toxin could be absorbed by swallowing, chewing, inhaling or skin contact.

ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said on Friday that the watchdog has ordered the recall of the product and for the producer to refund buyers. She warned that companies that continue to sell products which do not pass benchmarks or are banned would be fined up to $1.1 million.

Besides the make-up, the ACCC also tested finger, face and body paints for children, toy-style make-up, modeling clays, play dough, plasticine, sticky goo toys, art paints, crayons and pastels sourced from stores in Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

ACCC advised parents to test the face paint a few days before Halloween to ensure their children do not have an allergic reaction. It also suggested using black eye pencil to draw whiskers and tomato sauce for fake blood in lieu of face paints.

Another Halloween peril that an American dentist had warned about is excessive sweets collected by kids from trick-or-treat rounds. To encourage Ohio children to moderate their candy and chocolate intake during the Halloween holidays, he offered to pay them $1 for every pound of unopened sweets and threw in a free toothbrush.

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