A Chinese cosmetics company is supposedly using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the UK-based Guardian newspaper has discovered.

The article says 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".