- LONDON (AFP) - A British
newspaper said that a Chinese cosmetics company was using skin harvested
from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale
in Europe.
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- Agents for the firm, which could not be named for legal
reasons, have told would-be customers that skin taken from prisoners after
they have been shot is being used to develop collagen for lip and wrinkle
treatments, the Guardian newspaper said following an undercover investigation.
-
- "The agents say some of the company's products have
been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts
is 'traditional' and nothing to 'make such a big fuss about'," the
daily alleged.
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- It said doctors and politicians were worried about the
dangers associated with people wanting to look better in such ways, because
European regulations to control cosmetic treatments such as collagen are
not expected for several years.
-
- "Apart from the ethical concerns, there is also
the potential risk of infection," the newspaper said.
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- Collagen is the fibrous protein constituent of skin,
cartilage, bone, and other connective tissue.
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- The Guardian said it was unclear whether the anonymous
company's treatments were already available in Britain or over the Internet.
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- It was also unable to say whether collagen made from
prisoners' skin was in the research stage or was in production.
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- "However, the Guardian has learned that the company
has exported collagen products to the UK in the past. An agent told customers
it had also exported to the US and European countries, and that it was
trying to develop fillers using tissue from aborted foetuses."
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- The newspaper said that when formally approached the
agent denied the company was using skin harvested from executed prisoners.
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- At the same time, it said the same person had already
admitted this to an undercover researcher.
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- It quoted that agent as saying: "A lot of the research
is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed
prisoner and aborted foetus." This material, he said, was being bought
from "bio tech" companies based in the northern province of Heilongjiang,
and was being developed elsewhere in China.
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- China executes more prisoners than the rest of the world
combined, although the precise number put to death is not known.
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- One recent tally by a European anti-capital punishment
group said that at least 5,000 of the near 5,500 known executions worldwide
in 2004 took place in China.
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