Newspaper reports on whitening ‘scandal’
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- Published: Friday, 19 June 2015 13:58
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The Sunday Mirror has reported that some beauty salons are ‘using toxic chemicals with 200 times legal level of bleach’ to whiten teeth. These levels of hydrogen peroxide were discovered after trading standards officers ‘swooped on salons promising punters a perfect Hollywood smile’. The revelation comes after the paper told how unqualified practitioners were cashing in on the £1billion industry, ‘putting customers’ health at risk.’
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The paper reports that thousands of unregistered ‘technicians’ are providing a cut-price service in hairdressers, tanning shops, clinics and beauty salons. Now an official investigation into 40 such outlets has revealed many are using dangerous bleaching gels which can cause blisters and gum damage. The gels are applied to teeth in a tray.
The brands seized by Essex trading standards officers included three brands of teeth whiteners which had illegal levels of hydrogen peroxide. The worst, AW3 Teeth Whitening, contained 23.8 per cent hydrogen peroxide – 238 times the maximum EU safety level. Another gel, called Lovelite, was found to have 0.216 per cent hydrogen peroxide, more than double the legal limit. It also contained sodium perborate, a substance banned in cosmetics in the EU. A third gel called Super White Smile was found to have 0.215 per cent hydrogen peroxide – also double the limit – even though its label said it was within legal limits.
Two more brands among the seized gels had misleading labelling. Richard Knight, Britain’s trading standards expert on cosmetic product safety, said: “Beauty salons need to know they are breaking the law if they are doing teeth whitening.” He said beauticians ordered such gels from specialist suppliers, adding: “These products should never have been on the market in the first place. Consumers must be satisfied any salon they are using is compliant with regulations and what we have seen from this small sample is that they are not.”
The 40 firms where the products were seized will not be named. Mr Knight explained: “They bought these products believing them to be safe. We are giving them the opportunity to put things right.” Richard Knight said many teeth whiteners trained by firms “don't realise they've been misled”. He said: "The firms are using nefarious means to get people to part with up to £2,000 to engage in an illegal activity, which I think is dreadful.”
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