The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it would test a so-called “BB cream” product imported from South Korea suspected of containing potentially hazardous agents that recently made a woman glow in the dark at a nightclub.
Blemish balms, commonly known as BB cream, have gained in popularity in recent years as the product combines foundation, sun protection lotion and moisturizer all in one mixture.
Recent reports said that a Taiwanese woman who used the BB cream manufactured by South Korea-based IPKN realized while in a nightclub that her face was giving off a bluish fluorescent glow under the black light. The sheen made her fear the product could contain harmful substances or have unexpected side effects.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had instructed local health officials to immediately conduct tests on IPKN’s BB cream.
If the product tests positive for fluorescent agents, which the company claims the BB cream formula does not contain, the company could face fines of up to NT$100,000, said Chang Chien Chi-jui (張簡啟瑞), a section chief at the FDA’s medical devices and cosmetics division.
“The results of the product test will be available in about a week,” Chang said.
“If health authorities determine that the company has added substances that violate regulations, the product will be ordered off the shelves and customers will be entitled to a full refund,” she said.
Fluorescent agents can be added to some products to increase their whitening property. As there is no consensus on whether fluorescent agents can cause cancer, however, most countries do not ban it in cosmetic products, Chang said.
She said the FDA would soon invite experts and academics to discuss whether it should ban the substance in cosmetic products sold in Taiwan.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS