Thousands of people left with skin blotches from Japan whitening creams
More than 15,000 complaints received by cosmetics giant Kanebo
More than 15,000 people in Japan have been left with skin blotches caused by a chemical contained in popular skin-whitening creams, the maker of the products said on Tuesday.
Japanese cosmetics giant Kanebo said it had received 15,192 complaints from Japan from users of 54 products containing the whitening chemical “Rhododenol”, in what has become an escalating public relations nightmare for the company.
A third of the complaints are from people with “serious” symptoms such as at least three blotches or a single patch of discolouration five centimetres or more in diameter, the company said in a press release.
More than 70 people abroad had reported a similar reaction, 54 of them in Taiwan and the others in Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand, a Kanebo spokeswoman said, adding there had been no complaints from mainland China.
“The number may rise somewhat hereafter but the pace is slowing down. We hope there will be no large increase,” she said.
Kanebo in July recalled of millions of products from across the globe, including Britain, because of problems with a chemical whitening substance called 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone, which Kanebo has named “Rhododenol”.