September 28, 2006
Skin whitening madness

Danger, danger!!! If you use skin whitening treatment, be aware! Those creams are not as harmless as you think they are. If you don't know what skin whitening is, it's just what you think it is, a product to whiten your skin. Why would any sane person do this? It's the same reason why all western people love that nice brown tan whenever the sun cares to peep through in summer.
Skin whitening in the Far East means that the person (normally female) is delicate and fair. I think the tanned skin comes from back in the farming days, when women worked long hours in the sun in the fields as apposed to rich women. So it's a sign of wealth and beauty. Yes, shallow, isn't it?

Anyway, the reason why I mentioned DANGER here is when I came across this article: Experts warn of skin whitening cosmetics. China fakes many products, which includes, baby food, soy sauce, eggs, cosmetics, medicine etc etc. In this article it cites that

In Hong Kong, there are no strict rules for product labelling and you can buy cream that says it is mercury-free, but when we examine it, it is full of mercury," said Christopher Lam, a professor of chemical pathology at the Chinese University.

Now that is scary thought. And here is another quote that will scare you as well:

"When we did an x-ray of the offending cream, it didn't allow the x-ray to go through. It was radio-opaque," said pathologist Michael Chan at the Prince of Wales Hospital.

What Asian women do for beauty. When will the regulators bring in proper laws to stop this type of abuse, not just for cosmetics, but for anything that can be faked and could cause danger to humans themselves. Especially the innocent ones.

More info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_whitening

Posted by whykay at September 28, 2006 01:32 PM