The cancer-causing dye Sudan has been detected in six types of lipstick on sale at the biggest wholesale market in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province, local officials said Monday.

 

Sudan, a red dye which has been found to cause cancer in mice and rabbits, was discovered in lipsticks produced by two companies from Shantou city in Guangdong Province, according to a recent report by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

 

Sudan-I, II and IV were found in five lipsticks made by the Heng Fang Cosmetic Co. and Sudan-IV discovered in lipsticks produced by Shilulan Cosmetic Co., said officials from the Guangdong provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision.

 

Production at the two companies has been suspended. Shilulan actually stopped manufacture sometime ago but 8,000 of their lipsticks have been recovered and destroyed. The dangerous lipsticks were found in the Xingfa wholesale market, said Bureau officials.

 

Heng Fang lipsticks are sold for 10 yuan (about US$1.30) a dozen. They’ve been taken off shelves by local officials.

 

Sudan-I, II and IV are authorized for use as a lubricant or to give color to gasoline, wax, shoes and floor boards. Sudan-III is permitted for use in cosmetics but not for lip and eye products, said Bureau staff.

 

Sudan is on general sale in China and last year the country had a food scare when the dye was found in duck eggs with reddish yolks. Investigators discovered that poultry farmers in north China's Hebei Province had mixed the dye into the feed as eggs with red yolks are believed to be more nutritious and fetch a better price.

 

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the contaminated eggs were mainly sold in Beijing but the scare spread far beyond the Chinese capital.

 

Hebei Province seized 580 kilograms of suspicious eggs and 800 kilograms of contaminated feed. At least 5,100 ducks were culled in Pingshan County where the cancer-causing chemical was first detected.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2007)