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Health Ministry investigates toilet paper controversy
6:01 pm, Tue April 16, 2013
The Ministry of Health has launched an investigation into the disturbing issue surrounding the sale of contaminated toilet paper.
The Health Ministry broke its silence on Tuesday afternoon when Michael Coombs – the Chief Medical Officer said his office is also concerned that the matter was only brought to light after a Gynecologist found that patients were being repeatedly infected.
While the names of the four brands of toilet paper have not been released, RJR news has learnt that one brand is imported from within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Last week the Bureau of Standards said it was waiting for conclusive scientific tests to be done overseas, before revealing the brand of contaminated toilet paper.
However, Professor Winston Davidson – the Chairman of the Bureau of Standards now says the names may not be released due to legal concerns.
He argues that the Bureau never asked the manufacturers of toilet paper to meet microbiological standards - similar to what is required for food imports.
Concerning reports that some supermarkets still had contaminated toilet paper on their shelves – Davidson admitted that this was true.
However, the Ministry of Health has stepped in and revealed that it will be removing the affected toilet paper brands from the public domain.
Meanwhile, the council of the Bureau of Standards has decided to incorporate standards for non-food items, such toilet paper.
“We could not test before because we had a backlog of about 850 food testing before and now that we greater capacity and we have a more efficient laboratory it is now possible for Jamaica to strive for best practice,” said Davidson.
