In September 2011 in Cambodia, bride-to-be Mam Seak, 21, and her 19-year-old sister Mam Srey Oun began using a skin whitening cream called Kim Lot Lanh Thom Cao Cap. Six hours later, they began having difficulty breathing and hearing. By Friday morning, Mam Seak was dead. She was the second bride to die after using the Vietnamese whitening cream.

Kampong Speu Provincial Court yesterday heard charges of intentional murder against a 19-year-old wedding store owner who sold a banned skin-whitening cream that ultimately killed one of her customers in September, court officials said.

The closed-door hearing lasted only one day and the verdict in the case will be announced on March 16, provincial deputy prosecutor Ty Munin said yesterday.

In September, bride-to-be Mam Seak, 21, and her 19-year-old sister Mam Srey Oun began using the skin-whitening cream at about 1pm on a Thursday. Six hours later, they began having difficulty breathing and hearing. By Friday morning, Mam Seak was dead.

The suspect, Lor Lyhour, who owns a wedding store in Oral district’s Trapaing Chhor commune, was arrested the same day Mam Seak died, was charged with intentional murder and detained in the provincial prison.

Mam Seak became the second bride to die after using the Vietnamese product – branded Kim Lot Lanh Thom Cao Cap.

The product has been banned in both Cambodia and Thailand after another bride-to-be died in March 2010. In March 2010, a 23-year-old woman in Banteay Meanchey province died after using the same brand of skin-whitening cream before her wedding.


Extracts from a Phnom Penh Post article (original) by Mom Kunthear. Published 22 February 2012.