DOHA: With public complaints about substandard beauty products and cosmetics being brought into the country on the rise, Qatar plans to open a laboratory soon to monitor the quality of these products.
The plan is part of an ambitious and long-thought-out project to set up a string of laboratories to check for, among other things, diseases in fish, cattle and plants, and the indirect impact on foodstuff of insecticides used on plants.
The laboratory that will monitor the quality of cattle is to be set up at Abu Samra, where Qatar’s customs check post is located on the borders with Saudi Arabia. A laboratory is to be set up at Doha Port as well.
This aside, plans are afoot to establish a laboratory to test medical equipment being brought into the country for use in hospitals.
All these laboratories are to become operational by the end of the year, a senior official of the Ministry of Environment has said.
Then, there are plans to complete the expansion of laboratories that check the quality of children’s toys and electrical appliances. These labs opened last year.
“The proposed laboratories will help both the government and the private sector in their quality control efforts,” said Dr Mohamed Saif Al Kuwari, director of the Laboratories and Standards Department of the Environment Ministry.
He told Al Sharq in an interview published yesterday that his department was also working to obtain ISO 9001 certification.
He said tests conducted at a laboratory established by his department to check radiation levels in the country’s environment, including sea and soil, had shown negative results. “Qatar’s environment is totally free of radiation,” the official said.
He said his department had centres at the Doha International Airport, Doha Port and Abu Samra. “Our specialist teams work at these centres 24 hours to monitor the quality of imported goods.”
The department’s approval is required for any imported item to enter the local market.
“We have in the recent past stopped many products from entering the local market and withdrawn several as they did not meet the standards and specifications set by Qatar,” said Al Kuwari.
The withdrawn items included cement, children’s toys, sweets, melamine materials, kitchenware, electrical appliances, shampoos, exhaust fans and automobile tyres, said the official.
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