SK-II

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SK-II is the leading prestige and high-end beauty brand by Procter & Gamble (TYO: 4852 ), the largest consumer goods company in the world. SK-II celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2005 from its origins, Japan. SK-II is a product made of its main ingredient known as pitera.

With no free-standing boutiques in the United States, SK-II products are exclusively sold through selected Saks Fifth Avenue stores.

Hong Kong representative: QiQi

Countries in which SK-II is sold:

[edit] China problem

On September 14, the People's Daily reported that the Guangdong Center for Inspection and Quarantine had detected in the product of SK-II heavy metals of chromium and neodymium whose densities are higher than the local normals and that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) had reported the issue to its Japanese counterpart [1]. Those products are banned from import to China [2].

Chinese media repeatedly associated the issue with Japan where SK-II had originally been commercialized instead of the U.S. where the multinational company is based. Many Chinese customers demanded return of goods. Some attempted to refund the money on fake SK-II [3]. Some broke into P&G China's office in Shanghai and smashed the door.

In Japan, it was speculated that it was retaliation by the Chinese authority for Japan's introduction of the positive list system for agricultural chemicals in food that had resulted in the decline of China's agricultural imports to Japan [4].

In response, P&G stresses the safety of their products: The trace levels of chromium and neodymium found in SK-II products are well within limits recognized as safe by regulatory bodies around the world. The trace levels do not pose a safety or health concern. Trace amounts of chromium and neodymium exists naturally in the environment. They exist in a range of everyday products, including: food, water, milk powder and other cosmetics products. The amount of chromium you would get from the use of any of these SK-II cosmetics is 100 times less than what the World Health Organization considers safe in your everyday diet. Similarly, the level of neodymium exposure is 1,000 times less than what is considered to be a safe level in your everyday diet. [5]

In contrast to China, the Korea Food and Drug Association of South Korea, the Department of Health of Taiwan, the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore and the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong announced that SK-II posed no harm to human health. Finally, on October 23, AQSIQ and the Ministry of Health of China jointly stated that the P&G products were safe to use although they did not admit their initial mistake [6].