WAM Abu Dhabi, July 16th, 2012 (WAM) -- The Municipality of Abu Dhabi City has called upon community members in general and ladies as well as beauty centers in particular to fully comply with the sound medical standards governing the use of herbs, oils and '&' herbal mixtures in view of the health risks associated with the wrong use of these products along with their derivatives.

This came during an educative lecture held by the Municipality in cooperation with Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine, and delivered by Fathiyya Abdullah Al Marzooqi, Head of Awareness and Training on Traditional '&' Alternative Medicine in the Complex.

In this context, Khalifa Mohammed Al Rumaithi, Director of Public Health at the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, stressed the Municipality's keenness on the health and safety of the community in keeping with its vision of ensuring a superior standard of living and sustainable environment for the residents of Abu Dhabi city.

He called for concerted efforts of the community and the Municipality to curb the health risks originating from the wrongful use and misconceptions about herbs and oils. "Ladies '&' gentlemen should only visit credible '&' competent salons '&' beautification centers in order to protect themselves from any negative effects resulting from the misuse of herbs and oils or through the use of expired or polluted herbs. The Municipality is firmly committed to combat these negative phenomena which are contrary to the applicable laws considering the risks they pose on the health and integrity of the community '&' environment, besides contravening the public health codes." For her part, Fathiya Abdulla Al Marzouqi, Head of Awareness Section at Zayed Complex for Herbal Research and Traditional Medicine, stressed in her lecture the importance to educate beauty salons visitors of men and women towards verifying the credibility of such saloons and centres, be it in terms of materials they use for customers, or the work environment itself as it they have great impact on the public health and individual safety. She added that the core elements of the lecture aimed to reduce as much as possible the side effects of herbs and oils used for beatifying purposes, and at the same time protect customers of fraud, and from using materials under pseudo names that might generate catastrophic results to their health.

"There are two types of herbal oils; one static and the other is aromatic volatile. All oils are highly perishable materials if exposed for a long period to direct air and light. For this reason, they should be processed in a timely manner and kept in tightly closed, dark colored and light-tight containers. Beauty centers have to carry out periodic checks of stored herbs and get rid of old and expired items.

Al Marzooqi called upon ladies and gentlemen to immediately report to skin disease specialist doctors in case any side effects were detected as a result of using herbs or oils.

WAM/ES/AM