In the past, China has seen multiple cases of children developing “big-head” disease after drinking inferior milk powder. A more recent case of a child with a “big-head” was reported after the parent used an antibacterial cream, which caused abnormal head development of the baby. The government of Zhangzhou City of Fujian Province, where the incident occurred, has ordered manufacturers to recall the product and launched an investigation.
On January 7, Wei Wenfeng, a Chinese consumer product safety expert, broke the story via Bilibili, a Chinese video sharing platform. The video indicated that in 2020, a parent bought the Aiyingshu (嗳婴树) brand “Multi-effect Special Antibacterial Cream” and applied it to his 5-month-old child.
The parent found that after applying the cream, the child experienced a swollen face, hairy forehead, and even stunted growth, which are typical “big-head” disease symptoms. After the incident, the parent took the child to seek a medical examination. It was not until the doctor asked whether the child had used hormone ointment that the parent suspected that there was a problem with this antibacterial cream and stopped using it.
The manufacturer of this antibacterial cream, Fujian Ouai Baby Health Care Products Co. LTD, was registered in Zhangzhou in April 2017. The company also has another “Happy Forest” baby cream. These two products, after being tested at professional institutions, both contained hormones that should not have been added to these products.
However, Fujian Ouai had published a statement claiming that, according to the reports conducted by a local government medical technical center on March 6, 2019, the test results on its antibacterial cream showed “normal” and showed that the product “contained neither hormones not antibiotics.”
Source: Central News Agency, January 8, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202101080281.aspx