(Yicai Global) June 15 -- Procter & Gamble Guangzhou, the Chinese arm of the US consumer goods giant, is said to have rebutted reports that the lake water contained in its SK-II brand’s skin care products made in Japan was contaminated by nuclear radiation.

SK-II products made in Japan and shipped abroad are safe to use, The Paper reported P&G Guangzhou as saying yesterday. The media outlets concerned have removed related reports, it added.

All SK-II products undergo rigorous product safety checks before hitting the market, complying with regulatory and safety requirements, P&G Guangzhou pointed out. All such products launched in China undergo strict safety testing in labs designated by the Chinese government, it added.

Videos and reports have spread online that the products may be contaminated with nuclear radiation. Chinese consumers have been worried about the safety of beauty products made in Japan following recent reports that waste water from the country’s Fukushima reactor, which suffered a nuclear disaster as the result of a huge earthquake in 2011, will be discharged into the sea.

According to earlier reports, the area on the shore where the Kamo River and Lake Biwa meet in Japan had many wood chips containing cesium, a radioactive substance. Lake Biwa is the only water source used in P&G’s SK-II products, the firm’s WeChat account showed.

The suspected nuclear contamination came from illegal dumping on the banks of the confluence of the Kamo River and Lake Biwa in 2014, reports said. 

After the incident, the local government immediately cleared the area and tested the radioactive concentration and other indicators, P&G noted. The site was unaffected by nuclear radiation, it said in 2015.

The SK-II brand was developed in Japan in the 1980s and bought by P&G from US rival Max Factor in 1991.

Editor: Martin Kadiev