Manama: Qatar has banned three more popular brands of shampoo from the local market after their samples failed to meet the quality standards.
A panel of experts on Tuesday ordered traders to take the Pantene products, including children’s shampoo 'Blooming' and the shampoo 'Roberta', off their shelves with immediate effect.
On Wednesday, Qatar daily The Peninsula reported that the panel, with representation from the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning, Supreme Council of Health and the Ministry of Business and Trade, cautioned consumers not to use the "tainted" products.
It said the compound 1.4-dioxane was found above the permissible limit of 10 parts per million in the samples of the brands. In excessive amounts, studies have shown it can cause cancer and skin disease.
Tests conducted by the laboratory department at the Ministry of Environment found that all three brands of the shampoo posed potential health hazards and did not match international quality standards.
The panel cautioned traders to meet the required standards of the region and stressed that all other variants of the shampoo, as well as other brands on sale had successfully met these requirements.
Qatar's major supermarkets had taken the products off the shelves by Tuesday afternoon as news spread, but many retail outlets, unaware of the recall order, continued to sell them.
Doha has recently recalled two variants of popular shampoo brand for failing to comply with the country’s quality standards. And a few months ago it had to recall four other variants of shampoo.
