Alert over food supplement or herbal "medicine"

Health authorities in Bahrain have withdrawn herbal products and food supplements produced by Lebanese firm, Zein Al Atat, Gulf Daily News has reported. The move came after a warning by the GCC Health Council saying that neither the company nor its products are registered with the Health Council and the company has made medical claims that have neither been accredited nor verified by the council. Bahraini customs officers have been notified to seize any Zein Al Atat products being brought into the kingdom, as their ingredients are unknown, the head of pharmacy and medicine monitoring at the ministry, Sahar Al Qahtani said.
Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/254466.html

BEIRUT: The political spat over the illegal herbal medicine industry appeared to ease Thursday, after a prominent MP said the authorities were finally taking action.
The matter was discussed Thursday by Parliament’s Health Committee, whose chairman, Beirut MP Atef Majdalani, said caretaker Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh had agreed to cancel the permit of Zein al-Atat herbal and nutritional product manufacturing company.
“Khalifeh has taken an important decision to revoke the investment license of the factory owned by Zein al-Atat, which is located in Dbayyeh,” said Majdalani after the meeting.
Outdoor advertisements for these products will also be removed by the Internal Security Forces within a week, Majdalani said.
Last month, the Health Ministry issued a warning against the manufacturers of herbal products and nutritional supplements such as Zein al-Atat and Amanacare, whose products the ministry said would constitute hazardous risks to public health. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=125015#ixzz1EaOJF9Xm (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Some of the questions that arise here are the following: this is an old issue and many people have been negatively affected and some lost their lives because of this: Why are advertisements still all over the country? Why are stores still selling these products? Why don't authorities IMMEDIATLY close the factories with red tape and work for the benefit of the public and the vulnerble populations: patients?!

Picture above: Learning Flicker Medicine Painting by Debbie Dan (source: http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/learning-flicker-medicine-debbie-dan.jpg)