Have any of you tried Olay Total White cream? (This is not an advertisement la. lol..)

Total white extra fair cream (for darker complexion)

Total white spot lightening cream
I've used it few months ago and found that upon application of the cream it instantly brightened up my skin. Initially I thought maybe after washing it off my face will turned back to its original dark complexion. Out of curiosity, I washed my face after applying it the face still remain as fair!
After applying it for a week my face complexion is far too fair as compared with my neck (I was lazy to apply it on the neck sometimes. Teehee) Everyone who met me exclaimed that I became fairer and I looked nicer. So I was really in love with this product. Summore this product is dirt cheap, only RM3.90 for 20g. Without second thought I used it everyday and when it ran out I bought new ones to continue using it.
Lately it's used up again and I wanted to buy a new one to top up my stock. But when I went to Guardian I couldn't find any on the shelf! So I bought myself Olay White Radiance instead. After that I had been wondering what happened to Olay Total White? So I went to Google up for this product. Couldn't find whether it's banned or something. But found a
NST news article I found from Malaysian Babes Forum about several whitening products being banned from the market due to the presence of hydroquinone and mercury in the products.
Research shows that high concentration of hydroquinone might cause cancer. Furthermore, it also can cause irritation to the skin. Mercury can cause liver and kidney damage.
The article opened my eyes on the active ingredients in these whitening products and pushed me to read more on the activities of these compounds in the melanin production pathway. There are several active ingredients used in whitening products: non-toxic ones such as arbutin, vitamin C, glycyrrhetinic acid, kojic acid, melanostat and retinol, and toxic ones such as hydroquinone and mercury.
The functions of most of the these compounds are ultimately similar, that is to inhibit the production of melanin which is responsible for the darkening of the skin. As compared to hydroquinone and mercury, the non-toxic compounds are way more expensive than the toxic compounds (Quote from the NST news "Thailand sells for about US$20 (RM70) per kilogramme of mercury-based ingredients or hydroquinone, compared with highly concentrated licorice extract, which sells for about US$20,000 per kilogramme".
This struck me really hard. If hydroquinone or mercury salts is RM70/kg, 20g of the compound is RM1.40. And the Total White is RM3.90 for 20g. Hmm.. looks like it... I better throw it away.
Note: This is just my simple guess. I can't find any proof that Total White is banned from the government.