THE Health Ministry has invited Phnom Penh salon owners to attend a workshop addressing rules that cover the sale of beauty products, an official said Thursday, describing it as part of a drive to better monitor the industry after a death last month was linked to the use of a skin-whitening cream.

Sok Sokun, director of Phnom Penh’s municipal Health Department, said that all the capital’s beauty salon owners were encouraged to attend the May 5 meeting.

“This is the first meeting with all of them,” he said. He added that the owners of 36 beauty salons in Phnom Penh had so far been invited.

He said none of the invited salon owners are currently licenced by the ministry, and that all of them offer skin-whitening creams.

“We are afraid that those creams affect people’s health,” he said. “We want them to respect the law. They must get a licence to run a beauty salon in the future.”

He said all salon owners will need to receive training from the ministry and complete a specialised four-year course before they can obtain their licenses.

“The owners have each only finished three to six months of training,” he said.

The workshop, he said, will focus on a wide range of licencing laws and regulations.

Chhuon Sovann, a 23-year-old woman from Banteay Meanchey province, suffered a fatal reaction to skin-whitening cream in March.