Beauty products horror

by JAMES MILLS, Daily Mail

 14 September 2005

Horrifying claims that a Chinese cosmetics firm is taking skin from the corpses of executed

prisoners for use in beauty products to be sold in Europe are to be investigated.

The company is said to be providing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments at a fraction of the price of rival suppliers after making a secret deal with the Chinese prison authorities.

Thousands of women who want to emulate the full-lipped pout of Hollywood stars are tempted by collagen implants.

Now the gruesome claims have prompted calls for immediate controls on substances used as cosmetic 'fillers', which do not currently fall under any regulations. European regulations are being drafted but are not expected to come into force for several years.

Collagen is typically taken from the skin of animals, such as pigs, cattle and sharks, or voluntary human donors.

The suggestion that collagen drawn from the bodies of Chinese prisoners may find its way into British products will heighten safety fears and MPs on the Commons select health committee plan to investigate.

Labour MP Kevin Barron, the chairman, said: 'This is something everyone in society will be very concerned about.'

It is believed 3,400 Chinese prisoners were shot in executions last year, while 6,000 are on death row. The Chinese government admits that organs are transplanted from dead prisoners, but only with their prior consent.

There is evidence, however, that body parts are regularly taken without permission.

The claims, revealed by the Guardian newspaper, will put pressure on Tony Blair to question China's human rights record further.

The Chinese cosmetics company, not named by the Guardian for legal reasons, is also said to be trying to develop 'fillers' using tissue from aborted foetuses.

It is unclear whether collagen from prisoners has yet been used in the UK.

But the company has exported products to this country in the past. The collagen is said to have been supplied from 'bio tech' companies in the northern province of Heilongjiang.

The Guardian gained its information when an

undercover researcher posed as a Hong Kong businessman and spoke to an agent for the Chinese cosmetic company.

The agent, based in northern China, told the researcher: 'A lot of the research is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed prisoner and aborted foetus. 'In China it is considered very normal. I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this.'

But it is apparent that the Chinese authorities realised how such conduct could be viewed. The agent said: 'The government has put some pressure on all the medical facilities to keep this type of work in low profile.'

Women were misled about the effectiveness of a cream which claimed to reduce cellulite and help slimming, advertising watchdogs have ruled. A newspaper and magazine

advertisement for Boots' moisturiser Super Slim No7 has been banned for failing to support its claims.

The ad promised 'A sleeker silhouette in two weeks.' The Advertising Standards Authority said this phrase, together with the claim that it was an 'anti-cellulite balm', suggested the product created a slimmer body shape by reducing cellulite or its appearance.

It banned the company from repeating the claims in future advertising. A Boots spokesman said: 'We believe our claims to be wholly accurate.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-362337/Beauty-products-horror.html#ixzz3BoR3tDlr 
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