松永 佳世子

<p>Recently we have experienced two outbreaks of health hazard from cosmetics that were voluntary recalled. One is an outbreak of immediate wheat allergy due to epicutaneous sensitization to a hydrolyzed wheat protein, contained in a facial soap. A total of 2,111 patients have been registered. Most of the patients are females, and half of them had anaphylaxis after eating wheat. The other is an outbreak of Rhododenol-induced leukoderma, and more than 19,000 patients were reported. Rhododenol is a quasi-drug ingredient for lightening cosmetics, and is a phenol compound. The Patch Test Material Research Committee of the Japanese Society for Dermaoallergology and Contact Dermatitis was set up in 2007, and has been performing two nation-wide studies. One of them is an epidemiological study on allergic contact dermatitis, which was done first as the paper-based case-registration questionnaire study started in 2010. Cosmetics were the most responsible products of allergic contact dermatitis, 67% of all, and the common causative items were hair dyes, skin lotions, and shampoos. The cases from the facial soap containing the hydrolyzed wheat protein and cosmetics for lightening skin including Rhododenol were reported in our study. We have made 'Skin Safety Case Information Network of Cosmetics and Other Products: SSCI-Net.' The aim of this network is to get real-time information of skin health hazards from cosmetics and decrease the risk and hazard as soon as possible by the industry–academic–government information network.</p>