DOHA: The Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning (MMAUP) have ordered the withdrawal of four popular brands of shampoo from the local market. The order comes after these products failed quality tests conducted by competent labs outside the country.
A joint team of experts, which has representation from both the ministries, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) and the Ministry of Business and Trade (MBT), recently conducted random inspections and collected samples of more than 20 brands of shampoo from the local market for quality tests. The tests found that four brands contained the hazardous substance 1,4-Dioxane beyond the permissible limit of 10 parts per million.
Sehat Almond, Sehat Cedr, Clinic Plus and Hayel Herbal are the four brands of shampoo that have been withdrawn from the market.
The products have been banned in the local market. Traders have been asked to immediately withdraw them from the shelves, said Dr Hamad Saif Al Kuwari, head of labs at the MoE, and Mohammed Lahdan Ali Kaabi, Assistant Director, Health Affairs, MMAUP, at a joint press conference here yesterday.
The officials called on the public not to use these banned brands. He urged the public to inform the ministries in the event of detecting the banned products in the local market.
"The quality testing of other brands is progressing in the labs. In the event of finding more brands containing the hazardous substance, their names would be announced and we will issue the withdrawal order", said Dr Al Kuwari. He said scientific studies had proved that the presence of more than 10ppm of 1,4-Dioxane can lead to major health hazards including cancer.
The tests on shampoos will continue till September 20, 2010. Samples of all the brands of shampoo available in the market would be subjected to quality tests. The names of the brands that fail the test would be announced and orders banning their sale issued.
Dr Al Kuwari said specific orders had been given to traders to make sure shampoo consignments were accompanied by quality certificates issued by competent laboratories in the exporting countries. The certificates must specify that the shampoos do not have more than 10ppm of 1,4-Dioxane.
© The Peninsula 2010
