COUNTERFEIT COSMETIC PRODUCTS POSE DANGER TO HEALTH

Sale of counterfeit goods is a serious problem both for the genuine enterprises, who suffer loss of sales revenues, and for the consumers who fall victims to substandard goods. The problem is more serious when it comes to purchasing from online suppliers.

This week there emerged reports from China that facing growing substandard goods by vendors through its platform, Alibaba has banned the sale of fourteen types of small home appliances from online shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall. The banned products include electric boilers, electromagnetic ovens, rice cookers and other home appliances, covering eight domestic brands, including popular consumer brands Peskoe and Royalstar.

As promoting healthy and genuine natural skin care products, Herbally Radiant has been monitoring sale of counterfeit cosmetics and other beauty items online. Recently, Taobao, China’s biggest customer-to-customer platform, informed its online vendors that they must upload proof of the authenticity of luxury goods, such as invoices or authorization letters, from the luxury brands for examination. Those who fail to do so will not be able to list the products online.

Many Western brands have accused the e-commerce giant of not doing enough to tackle counterfeit products. Last year, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands owned by Paris-based Kering, SA filed a suit in New York against Alibaba, seeking damages and an injunction for alleged violations of trademark and racketeering laws.

Apart from the lack of ethical business practices, Herbally Radiant has been highlighting the health risks from use of counterfeit products which are not safe. Mercury, lead, arsenic, cyanide and even human urine and rat droppings are often found in counterfeit cosmetics made in China. The level of toxins in some of these products have led to severe allergic reactions including skin rashes, burns, disfigurement and long-term health problems such as high blood pressure and infertility.

While replicas of products from popular brands like MAC, Benefit and Urban Decay have long been piled high at night market tables across Asia, foreign governments have recently raised the alarm that fake beauty products made in China are being sold to online shoppers around the world.

In May, the City of London police issued a national alert after discovering a shipping container filled with more than 4,700 counterfeit versions of MAC products including foundation, lip gloss, eyebrow pencils, bronzer and eye shadow. These products were mostly made in laboratories in China and sold to Eastern Europe and the U.K. through websites such as eBay and Amazon, police said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a similar warning last year, saying that counterfeit beauty products tested positive for a range of toxins, and also harms the U.S. economy with retail loss to legitimate American companies totaling $188 million in 2010.  From  2008 to 2010 almost 70% of all counterfeit goods seized worldwide were from China, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Consumers therefore need to take their own precaution by choosing only the genuine cosmetic products. They might like to try the safer natural organic skin care products. Herbally Radiant makes excellent skin-friendly products with USDA certified organic ingredients, meeting highest standards of quality and safety.