First Rule About Luxury European Cosmetics? Don’t Talk About Human Fat Trafficking

One of the longstanding scenes from the movie Fight Club surrounds Brad Pitt’s character creating high priced soap from human fat. Turns out truth may be stranger than fiction.  Or at least mirror it. Police in Lima, Peru have uncovered a source for the decades long stories of “Pishtaco” – strangers who kill South American Indians, drain them of their fat, and sell to European cosmetics laboratories.

Rumors date the practice back to the 1500s, but police now have proof the murders have been going on for at least 30 years. Arrests were made November 3rd, and authorities were given details on how victims were lured into the jungles on the promise of work, killed, dismembered and drained of the amber fluid. A soda bottle’s worth could fetch $15,000.

Using human parts for cosmetics is not new. Discarded foreskin is a prominent ingredient in a luxury eye treatment. From the days in Egypt when rain caused the fat from the buried to soap up the Nile, to modern day injections, fat has cosmetic merits. But is it worth killing over? Considering the battle with weight most of the world has, harvesting is an easy option. I think the bigger question is – Who are the buyers? Where is this ingredient going and what labels actually contain human fat? Finally, fat does great things to keep skin beautiful, but I shudder just thinking about the health implications of random sources (obtained in a horrific way) and the improbability the material was stored correctly until use.

Keep in mind, this has been going on for 30 years in Lima that we can know of, and longer if you believe legend. $15K for a liter? The profits for the end user must be enormous to be willing to pay that fee.