DEPARTMENT stores are selling a $150 face cream that promises to reduce fine lines despite the fact the chemical regulator has not approved a key ingredient.

Dr Brandt's Lineless cream contains fullerenes, tiny carbon nanoparticles which concern campaigners and scientists who believe they can enter the bloodstream and promote the production of free radicals, which have been linked to cancer.

Laws allow nano-sized chemical varieties to be marketed without any additional testing but the chemical regulator has ruled that fullerenes, despite being carbon molecules, require separate permits.

The Herald understands the regulator, the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme, warned cosmetic companies of their obligations in 2008 but as of yesterday no permits were listed on the Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances.

The Dr Brandt cream is sold at Mecca Cosmetica, which has seven stores in Sydney including an outlet at Myer Pitt Street.