China has not imported any lipstick containing high levels of lead from the United States, the country's quality watchdog said on Tuesday.

A U.S. research group called Campaign for Safe Cosmetics claimed earlier this month that about a third of 33 brand-name lipsticks contained a level of lead that exceeded 0.1 parts per million - the U.S. limit for lead in candy.

The testing was done by an independent laboratory and the highest levels were detected in products from Cover Girl, Christian Dior and L'Oreal, the group said, adding none of the companies had included lead in the list of ingredients.

The State General Administration of China for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine conducted an investigation and found that China had not imported the reported lipsticks.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2007)