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Wed Aug 21, 2013 6:23 pm  |
From the Wall St Journal: (this was published about a month ago)
Kanebo Criticized for Delay in Recalling Skin-Whitener
More Than 6,800 People Have Reported Some Depigmentation
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The Japanese government lambasted Kanebo Cosmetics for a weeks-long delay in notifying the public that its skin-whitening products were causing severe depigmentation, a problem affecting thousands of customers.
By Mayumi Negishi, Miho Inada
TOKYO—The Japanese government lambasted Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. for a delay in notifying the public that its skin-whitening products had caused severe depigmentation, a problem affecting thousands of customers.
Kanebo said that at least 2,250 people have reported serious symptoms, such as large white blotches on their skin, since it issued a wide-scale product recall three weeks ago. More than 6,800 people have reported some depigmentation after using the products subject to recall.
The Kao Corp. unit was accused of reacting too slowly, as the recall wasn’t issued until July 4.
“In May, a clinic had reported skin damage possibly caused by a Kanebo product. The company should have made it public at that point at least,” Consumer Affairs Agency Secretary-General Hisa Anan told reporters Wednesday.
Ms. Anan said that the clinic had notified Japan’s second-largest cosmetics maker on May 13 of three patients with blotchy skin who had used the company’s skin-whitening products. But the cosmetics maker didn’t report those cases to the government until the end of June and it didn’t issue a recall until July 4.
Kanebo recalled 4.36 million items containing a substance called 4HPB, which is used in 54 different products sold by the company in Asia and the U.K. It sells roughly ¥6 billion ($60 million) of the products that are subject to recall annually. That includes Japan’s No. 2 skin-whitening brand, Kanebo Blanchir.
The government is warning consumers to stay away from products with 4HPB, or Rhododenol, a Kanebo-developed synthetic version of a compound found in the bark of white birch trees.
Kanebo said it is looking into reports in Taiwan that the company’s products sold there also caused depigmentation.
The 6,800 cases reported in Japan included a woman in her 50s who had been using a Kanebo product for three years, the Consumer Affairs Agency said. In May of last year, she noticed blisters on her face, neck and hands, itchiness, swelling, and white splotches on her skin ringed in red, it said. Another report came from a woman in her 40s who said that after using a Kanebo product for two years, she noticed white blotches on her neck, left cheek and the base of her left eye.
It wasn’t clear what might be causing the problems. The company said the key ingredient’s formula hasn’t been changed, and Kanebo ruled out contaminants. It said the product went through eight years of development, including testing on 1,000 people. Possible causes include sun reaction, allergic reaction stemming from prolonged use and interference with production of melanin in the skin.
Skin-lightening products returned to vogue in the 1990s amid a boom in the development of antiaging and whitening substances at cosmetics makers. Companies attempted to develop the next hot product in a country where pale skin has been a sign of status since at least the 10th century, when women took medicine to lighten their skin. The result has been government approval of some 20 substances deemed effective in skin whitening since 1988.
“This is an extremely large number [of cases]. I apologize deeply to all people who have been affected,” Kanebo President Masumi Natsusaka said at a news conference, bowing deeply. “We will make sure we can ensure the full recovery of all our customers.”
Company executives said that they reported the problem as soon as they could properly assess the situation.
Dermatologist Nobuko Yoshiki, who runs a clinic in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district, said that possible causes for the white blotches could be an allergic reaction among longtime users. “In general, the risk of side effects is higher for whitening products, since many of them work by breaking through the skin’s outer barrier.” Some products also rely on enzyme inhibitors to control the production of melanin, which can destabilize the balance within the skin, she said.
Kanebo received a government bailout in 2004 before its cosmetics operations were sold to Kao in 2005. Kanebo’s whitening products make up 25% to 30% of the company’s skin-care line. Japanese sales of whitening products are expected to reach ¥196 billion industrywide this year, according to market-research firm Fuji Keizai Co.
The popularity of skin whiteners is expected to grow in other parts of Asia, such as India and China, at 13% a year, according to Global Industry Analysts Inc.
Kao’s shares dropped 6.2% in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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From the Kanebo site: http://www.kanebo.com/information/medical.html |
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42, have used tretinoin since age 18! Replenix CF serum and eye cream, RAMicro, Glytone 2 lotion every other day |
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