[Anchor]
Counterfeit cosmetics imitating famous overseas brands have been found to contain methanol and lead exceeding safety limits. The Korea Consumer Agency has urged consumers to immediately discard counterfeit products of unknown origin.
Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the story.
[Reporter]
They look identical to luxury brand perfumes such as Chanel, Dior, and Creed, but in reality, they are all counterfeits mimicking the appearance and scent.
These are some of the fake luxury items seized from sales via social media live broadcasts investigated by the South Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency last March.
As a result of safety tests conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency on 34 of these counterfeit products, harmful substances exceeding legal limits were detected in 11 products, accounting for 32%.
First, methanol was detected in six types of perfume, ranging from a minimum of 73.7% to a maximum of 96.9%.
This figure exceeds the permitted standards for distributed cosmetics by 368 to a maximum of 484 times.
[Park Jun-yong / Team Leader, Hazard Management Team, Safety Bureau, Korea Consumer Agency: Methanol can cause vision loss if absorbed into the body, and prolonged exposure can lead to side effects such as central nervous system disorders.]
The Korea Consumer Agency explained that while genuine perfumes use ethanol to dissolve fragrances, the counterfeit cosmetics appear to have used methanol—which is cheap but highly toxic—to cut production costs.
In a hand cream product, CMIT and MIT, preservatives banned for use, were detected simultaneously.
These are ingredients that can cause allergic skin reactions and respiratory and eye irritation if exposed above a certain concentration.
CMIT and lead components were also detected in one type of lipstick and one type of body mist.
The Korea Consumer Agency advised that the use of counterfeit products with unclear sources should be immediately suspended and discarded, and consumers should exercise extreme caution when purchasing, as prices significantly lower than the market rate may indicate a counterfeit product.
(Video Editing: Lee Sang-min)
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