The health authority is collecting evidence to prove the research results, but marketing of these products in China will not be curtailed before it has enough proof, the officials said.

Attention was aroused yesterday when the Guangzhou Evening News newspaper quoted research published earlier this month by US-based Healthcare Without Harm, a coalition advocating environmental practices of the health care industry.

According to the research, 34 top brand cosmetics on sale in Sweden and Britain contain phthalates, chemicals likely to result in cancers and infertility. Products covered in the research include the perfumes of Lancome's Tresor, Christian Dior's Poison, Channel No. 5 and Calvin Klein's Eternity.

With similar constitutions to vegetable oil, phthalates are incorporated into products as plasticizers to make them durable and more resistant to breaking, according to www.phthalates.org. In perfumes they are used to make the fragrance linger longer.

Chinese customers have responded quickly to the poison report, according to cosmetics companies.

A worker at Christian Dior's Beijing office said the phone lines haven't stopped since yesterday with customers asking questions about the report. She said she has called the company's China headquarters in Shanghai to probe into the report.

Other cosmetics companies also said they have received calls from local customers.

Customers seem to be over-reacting, however, according to officials of the China Association of Flavor, Fragrance and Cosmetics Industry (CAFFCI), who said they haven't yet received complaints about poison in the 34 listed products.

"Since the research was conducted on animals, it's too early to say if they will have the same effect on human beings," they said.

According to www.phthalate.org, which is sponsored by Phthalate Esters Panel (the Panel) of the American Chemistry Council, phthalates are safe for daily use. PEP says if phthalates make their way into the human body, they don't accumulate in animals or humans, they break down quickly and are excreted.

The panel is composed of all major manufacturers and some users of the primary phthalate esters in commerce in the United States.

(eastday.com November 28, 2002)