The dutiful reporters over at The Guardian in the UK have uncovered an appalling practice in China: the use of skin harvested from executed prisoners to make collagen-based beauty treatments such as injectable fillers, lip treatments, and creams. Here's a snippet from the article:

"A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.
Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about"."

The measures that people will take to sell more product are truly outrageous. Here's a link to the full article by Ian Cobain and Adam Luck. It actually came out a few weeks ago but is certainly worth reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1568621,00.html