Luxury perfume brands have been linked to child labour in Egypt , where kids as young as five work night shifts picking jasmine. It is alleged that jasmine used by Lancôme and Aerin Beauty’s suppliers had been picked by minors. BBC Eye Investigations reporters went undercover to monitor supply chains and found some independent pickers earn just a dollar a day, or 78p.
They found one mum, Heba, and her four children, aged five to 15, setting out in the dark at around 3am. Basmalla, 10, is seen begging her mum to let her sleep a “bit longer”, telling her: “I hate jasmine.” Heba says: “Some of my children have allergies and keep scratching.
I want people using this perfume to see the pain of the children.” Heba earned just £1.18 for the 1.
5kg of jasmine flowers the family picked that night. Jewellery sale sees sapphire piece similar to Kate Middleton's engagement ring slashed by £250 Children as young as five are sent to pick jasmine, the BBC investigation found ( Image: Garden World Images) Her flowers are sent to factories that export jasmine oil to fragrance houses which make the perfumes. Jasmine in Lancôme Idôle L’Intense, which uses actress Zendaya , 27, in its ad campaign, and Aerin Beauty’s Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia comes from Egypt.
Givaudan, a fragrance house which makes Lancôme Idôle L’Intense, told the BBC the investigation was “deeply alarming”. Firmenich, the fragrance house which makes Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia.
