Chinese corpses used for cosmetics

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.

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.

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.

Collagen is the fibrous protein constituent of skin, cartilage, bone, and other connective tissue.

The Guardian said it was unclear whether the anonymous company's treatments were already available in Britain or over the Internet.

It was also unable to say whether collagen made from prisoners' skin was in the research stage or was in production.

"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."

The newspaper said that when formally approached the agent denied the company was using skin harvested from executed prisoners.

At the same time, it said the same person had already admitted this to an undercover researcher.

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.

China executes more prisoners than the rest of the world combined, although the precise number put to death is not known.

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.

yup ... and there are worse things done for the sake of makeup

Has anybody watched "Dumplings" yet ? It´s a Chinese movie about a woman who prepares certain dumplings which contain human embryos and sells them to her customers who want to stay young.

There´s always at least one person in the audience who has to vomit while watching it.

Of course it´s a fictional movie.

Ever heard of balut eggs ? A delicacy in the Phillipines...definitely worth checking out.

omg I love the chinese culture


Mind you, their make up is very very good..

KoolEaze said:

Hey, i'm half filipino and I think i've heard about Balut Eggs
,what are they? (i'm too lazy to google it )

smellmyfunk said:

so if you are half filipino, do they call you filip?

Dude, they had them on FEAR FACTOR! Hahahahaha I saw that episode too!

Eat Balut

Believe it or not, in certain parts of the world, it's a custom to eat soft-boiled eggs containing partially developed duck embryos. Filipinos call them "balut." Here at Fear Factor we simply call them gross.

We knew that balut - also known as the "treat with feet" and the "eggs with legs" - would make for a great Fear Factor stunt. But the trick was in finding out where to get a hold of some here in Los Angeles.

With the help of some duck farmers, we tracked down a balut supplier in a part of town known as Little Vietnam. It's a relatively small business that prepares thousands of duck eggs daily for sale to medical research labs and to Asian Americans hungry for a taste from home.

Some of these balut eggs are sold at weekend street fairs in L.A., where Vietnamese transplants can be found chowing them down with the help of some salt, pepper, and a couple of beers. Of course, we had no intention of serving our balut eggs with any salt, pepper or beer. We wouldn't want anything to spoil the taste now, would we?

The balut supplier showed us how he prepares the eggs for 18 days and then sends them on to food stores in the area. When we finished the tour, we hopped in the car and made a beeline to some of those stores. After all, we figured any place that carried balut probably had plenty of other gross food items in stock.

For the uninitiated, a trip to one of these stores can be a strange experience. The meat counter is packed with a dizzying array of animal guts. Even the candy aisle is filled with weird stuff like Banh Men, which are chalky, larvae-shaped coconut cookies that taste, well, horrible. Let's just say we left Little Vietnam with a bunch of balut eggs and a couple of ideas for some future stunts.

We brought the balut eggs to our Fear Factor kitchen and started boiling some test eggs at various cooking times. Fortunately, we were able to find a couple of volunteers in the office who were willing to give them a try. Let me tell you, they were not happy campers by the time they were through.

Nothing quite braces you for the first time you crack open a balut egg. As you dig into the yolky mess, you discover a miniature duck inside, complete with feathers and a beak! Adding to the horror is a terrible smell that works its way into your nostrils and just won't let go.

For the taste testers in our office, the worst part of the whole balut-eating experience was the crunching sensation they felt as they chomped through the embryo. Not surprisingly, it's the very same complaint we heard from our contestants. Oh, and one contestant complained of feeling a little eyeball slide down his throat.

"If they came and offered me the $50,000 right now to just eat one more, there is no way I would do it again," said one contestant after downing two of these suckers. "There is no way."

smellmyfunk said:

They are eggs with half developed embryos...I think you have to be born in the Philipines in order to like that stuff because most of the Philipinos I know who were born here don´t like them, whereas those who were born in the Phillipines have no problem with them.

I was born and raised here but my parents are Turkish, so as a kid I didn´t like certain things because my palate wasn´t used to them...it´s OK now.

This is totally disgusting and just wrong.....now where can I get some of this "fountain of youth" product?


M

REDFEATHERS said:

One of my friends does that!

KoolEaze said:

ive seen it , the ending is

CarrieLee said:

Is that to eat?

smellmyfunk said:

REDFEATHERS said:

Hell yeah!

smellmyfunk said:

I dont find any of it sick..