Claire's makeup kit found to contain asbestos by mother

Kristi Warner had the makeup tested in a lab after becoming suspicious

Rex Features

A mother in America has discovered that a makeup kit from Claire’s that was given to her six-year-old daughter contained asbestos.

Kristi Warner, 30, from Rhode Island, said she felt compelled to investigate when she checked the ingredients on her daughter’s glitter makeup kit from the US store, and saw that the only information given was that the product was made in China.

She decided to have the kit sent to a lab for testing. A few months later, results confirmed that the makeup kit contained asbestos.

Warner had a further 17 products from Claire's US sent for testing, all of which also tested positively for asbestos.

Inhaling asbestos can lead to a number of life-threatening diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening.

When Warner found out that the makeup kit had potentially put her daughter’s life at risk, she said she was devastated.

“I physically sank,” Warner told her local radio station WJAR. “I ended up sitting on the ground, just trying to wrap my head around how something like that could end up in our home.”

When six-year-old Mackenzie asked her mother what was happening, Warner didn’t know how to reply.

“Her response was, ‘Am I going to die?’”, she said. “There’s no right answer to that because I don’t want to lie to her.”

Claire’s has issued a statement in regard to the news, writing: “At Claire’s the safety of our customers is of paramount importance, and we are passionate about the safety and integrity of our products.

“As a result of today’s inquiry from WJAR-TV, we have taken the precautionary measure of pulling items in question from sale, and will be conducting an immediate investigation into the alleged issues.”

One Twitter user wrote: “You’re full of it. A company of your size has the money and resources to perform proper quality control inspections.

“Sourcing products from other countries without testing and due diligence is at best, lazy, dangerous, and definitely negligent.”

Claire’s has also released a link to a page with a list of the products that are subject to being recalled.

Claire's has since provided The Independent with an updated statement:

"We are pleased to report that test results received to date from two certified independent labs confirm that the products in question are asbestos free, completely safe and meet all government requirements.

"As we said previously, we also confirmed that the talc ingredient that is used in the cosmetics was sourced from Merck KGaA and is asbestos free. Any report that suggests that the products are not safe is totally false.

"We have shared with Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the certificates of analyses provided by Merck, and plan to share with those agencies the results of the testing being conducted by the independent labs.

"Our paramount concern is the safety of our customers and we apologise for any distress these false reports may have caused."