Move to regulate slimming centres, beauty salons

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The days of slimming centres and beauty salons offering dubious treatment to beauty-obsessed Malaysians may soon be over.
The Health Ministry will be armed with three new Acts next year to regulate the beauty industry.
They are the Cosmetics Act, Medical Device Act and the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act.
In responding to a New Straits Times report yesterday on "beauty professionals" offering treatment, Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek expressed concern over non-medical practitioners offering such treatment.
"The ministry is concerned over this development. I hope the public will not be so easily influenced by their promotions," he said after chairing the Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Action Committee in the Parliament complex yesterday.
He said the three Acts would be tabled in Parliament by early next year and the ministry would be able to control and monitor the operations of all beauty parlours and slimming centres.
It would also enable the ministry to take action against "fly-by-night" quacks, who are often engaged by the centres, to conduct "treatments".
Loopholes in the current laws prevent the ministry from taking action against these centres, Dr Chua said.
He said under the Cosmetics Act, the centres would be prohibited from dispensing any form of medication, with the exception of creams and liquids for external application. However, the medication used must be registered with the ministry.
Regarding the Medical Device Act, Dr Chua said the ministry would monitor the devices used by the centres to ensure they were licensed, while the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act would enable the ministry to monitor wellness spas as well.