A US woman provoked outrage across the world last week when she admitted to injecting her eight-year-old daughter with Botox on national television.
Kerry Campbell was unrepentant in the interview, claiming her daughter Britney had asked for the anti-wrinkle injections to boost her confidence in child beauty pageants.
”It’s a tough world in the pageant world, I’m telling you,” Campbell told Good Morning America. ”The kids are harsh.”
Child welfare authorities have launched an investigation into Campbell’s conduct. San Francisco Human Services Agency executive director Trent Rhorer gave a TV interview over the weekend confirming he is keen to talk to Campbell and Britney.
”It’s pretty unusual for a mum to be injecting an eight-year-old with Botox and certainly is grounds for an investigation,” he said.
Campbell said Botox was common in the child beauty pageant circuit. She insisted Britney asked for the injections and only “cried a little” when they was being administered.
Australian cosmetic surgeon Dr Ingrid Tall, director of Cosmetic Image Clinics, said she was ‘appalled’ by Campbell’s behaviour. She said the case showed how the world of beauty pageants had spiralled out of control.
“Children need to be children and not treated as commodities,” Dr Tall said.
“These child beauty pageants create a huge amount of pressure to perform and injecting a child with Botox as an anti-wrinkle solution is taking things to extremes.
“Children should be having fun and playing, not strutting around in beauty pageants in high heels with make up on and having Botox injections.”