KUWAIT CITY, Jan 24: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently circulated the names of 5 types of thermos to all relevant authorities to prevent their sale or import, after discovering that they did not comply with the specifications, because they contain the asbestos material that causes the cancer, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The sources pointed out the ministry just before receiving the warning issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the discovery of a number of types of thermos harmful to health, to comb the markets through its inspection and emergency teams, in cooperation with the Public Authority for Industry, to ensure the safety of consumers.

The same sources said the ministry has taken many procedures to hold the agents and distributors of those products responsible and summoned them to the ministry headquarters to take appropriate legal action which would prevent the recurrence of such problems in future.

The Ministry has also addressed the Union of Cooperative Societies and sent a list of the five products with the aim of circulating the list to all cooperative societies to withdraw these products from their shelves which it called an urgent matter.

The sources summarized the ministry’s procedures to deal with this matter as follows: Issuing a decision prohibiting the import of any products containing asbestos; Coordinating with the Public Authority for Industry to introduce thermos in the national conformity system; combing the markets and commercial centers to ensure that the products are free of prohibited material; Calling the agents and distributors and holding them legally accountable.