Chinese establishments that sell imported cosmetics which might
spread mad cow disease have less than one month to clear their
shelves of the potentially deadly products.
The Ministry of Health and the State General Administration of
Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine issued a
statement early this month to ban the import and sale of such
cosmetics before April 20.
At
present, many shops still stock cosmetics containing cattle or
sheep brain tissues, nerve tissue, internal organs, placenta and
blood, or their extracts, from dozens of countries and regions
where mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE)
has been found.
Enterprises that have already imported cosmetic products containing
such components are urged to immediately report them to the health
authorities and withdraw.
Some large department stores claim they have already withdrawn the
imported cosmetics.
In
North Star Shopping Center in Beijing, only Lan Ono, a cosmetic
brand from Australia famous for its wool-oil cosmetics and free of
mad cow disease, is on sale.
However, in many small and medium-sized markets in Beijing and
other cities, such cosmetics are reportedly still flourishing.
Some market managers claim they are waiting for a list of the
banned cosmetics before clearing their shelves, as they do not know
which ones should be pulled.
Consumers are also waiting for such a list to know which cosmetics
to avoid.
The Ministry of Health will distribute a list. However, this will
not happen until after April 20, according to Zhang Yinfa, a
ministry official.
The ministry will also check a list of cosmetics it previously
approved to see which of them contain suspected tissues, he
added.
"It will be a hard task because there are nearly 10,000 imported
cosmetics already approved in China," said Zhang.
To
some, the ban will not make much difference to consumers and
enterprises.
For example, Meng Jun, deputy manager of the cosmetics sale
department in Beijing Xidan Plaza, said the majority of marketable
cosmetics are made of plant tissues - a fashion in the cosmetic
industry - and, therefore, the ban will not have a great influence
on the sale of cosmetics.
Before the list comes out, consumers should remain cautious when
buying cosmetics, and check products' contents, experts
suggest.
In
China, cosmetics imported and sold legally have Chinese characters
displaying their contents and usage.
(China
Daily March 26, 2002)