Ban haircare products: MP

Manama : A parliamentarian has called for banning the import of certain shampoos and haircare products as recent studies proved that some of them cause birth defects.

MP Khalifa Al Ghanim submitted the proposal to Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Health ministries to ban some of the hair colour shampoos and hairsprays from the  market.

Al Ghanim, who’s also the deputy chairman of the council’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security, stressed that the proposal is aimed at protecting new-borns from birth defects.

“French scientists have in a recent study proved that there’s a link between chemical substances in some haircare products and a medical condition of male foetuses, resulting in birth defects. The use of these sprays and shampoos cause hypospadias, a congenital condition in males. This condition has noticeably increased among male new-borns in Bahrain lately,” the MP said in a letter attached to his proposal.

 “Some of the assumptions suggest that these substances affect male foetuses in the first three months of pregnancy, which is a very delicate stage. Around 1 out of every 250 males has this condition, which has negative emotional and physical effects on them. Many surgeries are annually conducted to correct this defect,” he explained.

Al Ghanim added that the recent studies support previous studies that proved that hypospadias among foetuses is double in the cases of women working in hairdressing fields.

Basing on “prevention is better than cure”, Al Ghanim demanded banning the import of all haircare and colouring products that are suspected to contain harmful substances.