Collagen-based cosmetics sales begin to drop

The mad cow disease has extended its impact to the nation's cosmetics sector, with a nearly 50 percent drop in sales of collagen and placenta-rich cosmetics following the government's bans on these products from the US.

"Due to consumers' concerns, sales of Taiwan Salt Co's (台鹽) collagen-rich cosmetics slid nearly 50 percent on Tuesday alone," Elvy Chou (周麗婷), public relations specialist at Watsons, said yesterday.

"Some consumers have begun purchasing Taiwan Sugar Corp's (台糖) cosmetics, which use collagen extracted from local pigs," Chou added. "In general, we have seen sales of collagen-rich cosmetics and health foods drop by 10 to 15 percent since last weekend."

In case mad cow disease further damages sales, the 235-outlet Watsons has asked its suppliers of cosmetics and health food to provide place-of-origin or quarantine certificates on their products by tomorrow in an attempt to pacify customers.

"We will have to stop selling the products of suppliers failing to do so until they offer such certification," Chou added.

The Department of Health ruled on Tuesday that all cattle and sheep-sourced cosmetic products imported from the US be taken off store shelves within two months. Anyone who violates the order would be fined up to NT$100,000.

The Bureau of Health under the Taipei City Government began a series of inspections of cosmetics yesterday to find out if any contained prohibited ingredients.

The bureau announced a list of 37 qualified products yesterday, including Dove bath milk and shampoo, Kanebo cosmetics, L'oreal's collagen-rich cream and Taisalt's collagen dough.

"We have asked all cosmetics companies to voluntarily report the ingredients and source of their products by Jan. 15 next year and will keep updating the list for consumer reference," said Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美), a division chief at the bureau.

Taisalt has been reassuring consumers that its cosmetics are safe from mad cow disease and that they will not withdraw their products from the shelves.

"The collagen from the US used for our products was extracted from cattle skin, which complies with international security standards and was not included in the listing of banned bovine or ovine tissues announced by the government," said Henry Lau (劉中行), executive manager at Taisalt.

Foreign cosmetics brands did not expect the incident to create much negative influence on imported cosmetics, for they had given up utilizing animal tissues to produce cosmetics prior to the mad cow disease cases first appearing in Europe.

"Collagen or placenta can be replaced by materials extracted from plants or made via biochemical technology to achieve the same effects, which we have been doing for a long time," said Mary Huang (黃瑪俐), public relations manager at Shiseido Taiwan.

"We estimate that this mad cow disease incident will have a greater impact on some local brands rather than foreign ones," said Linda Leu (呂惠卿), a brand manager at Estee Lauder Taiwan.