CosmeticsDesign reports that Peruvian police have cracked down on a ring of fat smugglers who have allegedly been murdering people in order to sell their fat for use in European cosmetics.
Fat Bandits
The article quotes the police as saying that the criminals “murdered individuals in rural areas and then extracted fat and tissues from the corpses in a clandestine laboratory.” Supposedly the illegal lard is for use in anti-aging treatments. I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic, but this story just smacks of urban legend to me. And the Canadian Cosmetics, Toiletries and Fragrance Association agrees: they have issued a statement saying that it’s unlikely to be true because for several reasons:
1. Human fat has no special function that can’t be achieved by using oily materials from other less illegal (and less disgusting) sources.
2. Even if some unscrupulous company was “sneaking” human fat into cosmetic ingredients, it would likely be caught because of the sophisticated quality assurance systems that all large cosmetic companies use. (Companies have to be aware of the sources of their raw materials for regulatory reasons.)
3. The crooks would have to kill a LOT of people to get enough fat for any large mass manufacturer of cosmetics.
4. Any product that did contain human corpse fat would be really expensive – the ingredient allegedly costs $15,000 per liter!
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Our assessment is that this story is just a hoax or an urban legend. And in related news, beauty biz giant P&G denied they are changing the names of two of their most popular brands to “Oil of Obese” facial moisturizer and “Fatene” Shampoo and Conditioner.
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I saw this on the news too and thought “What the f***???” I’m not condoning drug smuggling but really, if they wanted to play with people’s lives to try and make money from killing people, wouldn’t drug smuggling be easier and er, less messier than dealing in human fat??
I know it was used in the plot of “Fight Club” but really, sometimes you have to put your sensible hat on. I can’t imagine that it’s easy to remove fat and tissues from corpses anway.
Hehe! That was funny! Almost as gross as all the placenta beauty products in my drugstore. I have heard of a company in Florida that collects human fat from cosmetic surgeons (from liposuction) but they use it as bio-diesel.
Hey, if they wanted fat there’s plenty of people like myself who’d happily let them have it for way cheaper in exchange for free quality liposuction! $5 a liter, guys, just let me live and make sure they’re a great surgeon.
Yo! Peruvian fat thieves! Over here! Come and take it, I can always make more!
I don’t think it’s true, how can humans do that in fellow humans as well? Even if it’s true, there should be someone who would stop this crap. Thanks for sharing!