Universiti Sains Malaysia dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Prof Dr Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman said the committee could ensure that the pharmaceutical industry in the country would be transparent and committed in responding to the needs of Muslim consumers who were sensitive over halal issue.

He said the committee could work closely with monitoring agencies such as the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) in finding ways to resolve the halal issue in the pharmaceutical industry.

“We should be ashamed of ourselves as the halal pharmaceutical industry in the country is still lagging behind that of non-Islamic countries like Thailand and Belgium,” he said.

He was when presenting a paper entitled ‘Halal Medicine in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Steps Towards Production and Empowerment’ at the ‘Halal Food Crisis: Towards a Solution’ seminar here, Wednesday.

– BERNAMA

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By RIYADH: KHALID TAWALBEH ARAB NEWS STAFF

Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Kanhal has urged the authority’s offices at customs outlets to be careful while examining imported foods, especially shipments of fish from the waters of the Arabian Gulf.

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Sydney, Australia: Australia has its first “Halal friendly pharmacy” with a retail pharmacy in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba introducing a line of Halal certified medicines.

In what may herald a new niche in the competitive retail pharmacy market, Phramcy 4 Less Lakemba is aiming to change the retail landscape and fulfill a growing demand from a large segment of Muslim consumers requesting medicines that are Halal.

Just like Halal certified food (Halal meaning “permissible”), Halal certified medicines will fulfill the Islamic rulings that they have no ingredients that are alcohol or pork based or derived, and that any animal based ingredients must be derived from an animal killed in accordance with a Halal slaughtering process.

For strict Muslims who are conscious of the Halal status of everything they put into their bodies, a simple trip to the pharmacy to get medicine can sometimes turn into a long and arduous process. Many will ask the pharmacists questions and meticulously read the ingredients listed to try and ascertain the Halal status of the medicine they are purchasing.

Forat Sultan, one of the owners of Pharmacy 4 Less explained the idea behind this new initiative.

“More and more customers kept coming in and asking for Halal Medicines because its important for them to know that what they are consuming does not compromise their beliefs”.

The introduction is the fruit of a new organization, Halal Certified Medicine (HCM), which has undertaken the task of trying to alleviate the dilemma faced by many Australian Muslims by providing a service that identifies which medicines are Halal or Haram (impermissible).

Unlike traditional Halal certifiers that would be engaged at the manufacturing stage and certify that the product is made in accordance with Halal standards, HCM simply checks the ingredients of the currently available medicines and ascertains whether they are Halal or not.

Even if they were not intended to be certified Halal when manufactured, products that are found to be in compliance with Islamic standards are deemed “Halal” and labelled on the shelves with a “HCM” logo sticker.
The intention is to make it easy for Muslim consumers to identify which medicines are Halal and which are not.

“The Halal Certified Medicine initiative is great for me because it means i don’t have to answer all the questions about which Medicine is Halal, its made easy for customers now, they need to just simply look for the HCM logo sticker on the shelves and choose” said Sultan.

“For Australian Muslims who take Halal seriously, there really is no excuse now when purchasing Medicine. We are proud to say that Pharmacy 4 Less in Lakemba is Australia’s 1st Halal Friendly Pharmacy” he added.

Anticipating a success with the “Halal” medicine concept at the Pharmacy 4 Less Lakemba store, HCM is looking to expand its services to other pharmacies.

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According to the available information meningitis vaccine earlier produced, contained materials of bovine or porcine origin. Due to this reason Muslims had been complaining against those vaccines and urging for producing completely halal vaccine from halal ingredients. Due to this demand from the Muslim world an ‘apparently halal’ vaccine was produced named Mencevax. It is alleged that Mencevex even used porcine ingredients at manufacturing stage but the finished product could be made porcine free with the blessings of latest scientific technologies. Nevertheless, to say that Bangladesh is still using this ‘apparently halal’ vaccine though completely halal vaccine is available in the market. However, the government is under pressure to use halal vaccine especially for the hajj pilgrims.

The Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) has recently forwarded a letter to the ministry of Health and Family Welfare on March 19 and urged the government to take necessary measures to collect halal meningitis vaccines for the hajj pilgrims.

It should be mentioned here that the Saudi government has already approved Menveo as a halal vaccine for its people. The Jakarta Globe reported that Indonesia’s health ministry has halted distribution of Mencevax for those planning the pilgrimage to Makkha, after the Indonesian Council of Ulema passed an edict banning the vaccine, citing the use of porcine enzymes. The health minister said that the country will not use the vaccines already purchased worth US$3.0 million.

Meanwhile, the government of Singapore has seriously been considering the issue as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) has also expressed concern over possible problems with the vaccine after clerics in Indonesia declared it haram or forbidden under Islamic law, as pork and pig-derived by-products are prohibited for Muslims.

The Islamic Services of America (ISA) has approved Menveo as a halal vaccine manufactured by Novartis. After visiting Novartis plant based in Italy ISA has issued a certificate mentioning that “there are no additives or processing involving forbidden or suspicious ingredients” in Menveo. The Indonesian Council of Ulamas has also issued halal certificate in favour of Novartis’s Menveo, in July 2010, which is the first conjugate vaccine commercially available in Europe as well, that helps protect meningitis against four major serogroups of Neisseria meningitides A, C, W135 and Y.

European Commission (EC) has also granted a marketing authorisation for Menveo products in all 27 European member states. Menveo was also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 21, 2010.

Menveo vaccine is a conjugate vaccine but the previous one was polysaccharide vaccine that has lots of limitations. It is not effective for infants, it cannot immune memory and cannot ensure prolonged duration of protection. But Menveo vaccine is very much effective for the aforementioned conditions. It not only protects but also prevents the carrier of the germs to spread, among others. The halal vaccine has a boosting effect, and in repeated use it doesn’t lose power rather intensifies it.

According to the Ministry of Hajj of Saudi Arabia 2,927,717 persons performed the holy Hajj in 2011. While Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims were 1,05,608 in number. This year around 1,20,000 Bangladeshis will perform the Hajj.

Every year millions of people from around 160 countries worldwide gather in Mecca for Umra and hajj. The Hajj has become the epicenter of mass migration of millions of Muslims of enormous ethnic diversity.

No other mass gathering can compare, either in scale or in regularity. communicable disease outbreaks of various infectious diseases have been reported repeatedly during and following the hajj. Therefore, to protect the pilgrims from communicable diseases the Saudi government has made it mandatory for the pilgrims to take meningitis vaccine before arriving at the holy place. During Hajj, carrier rates for meningococcal disease rise to a level as high as 80% due to intense overcrowding, high humidity and dense air pollution (according to www.eurosurveillance.org). It should also be mentioned here that the meningitis belt of Sub-saharan Africa, stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east has the highest rates of the disease.

Therefore, saving life is of foremost important for the host country. Besides, the hajis might not be infected and become a carrier of such communicable diseases is also a great concern. And when there is an issue for haram and halal, the muslims will accept the halal one- no doubt. So, it is expected that the government will also take necessary steps to provide halal conjugate vaccine for this year’s hajj pilgrims.

Md Sazzad Hossain

Dhaka

md.sazzad.hossain@gmail.com

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The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) Monday announced an innovative new procedure for treating blocked heart arteries, making the UAE the fifth in the world to have this mode of treatment

Dubai The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) Monday announced an innovative new procedure for treating blocked heart arteries, making the UAE the fifth in the world to have this mode of treatment.

Three Emirati patients underwent the procedure last week which unclog the blocked arteries with a ‘scaffolding’ that dissolves within the body within three months.

Unlike the metal stents which remain in the body for ever, the new “bioresorable’ scaffolding do not turn the arteries rigid, making it easier for further treatment in the future, surgeons said.

Younger than average

UAE residents suffer from heart problems a decade younger than the world average, surgeons said, citing smoking, eating junk food and lack of exercise, as the contributing factors.

The new procedure called “Absorb” is said to be ground-breaking and is called the “fourth revolution” in the field of cardiology. It will be available only in the government hospitals initially, DHA said.

“We are determined to reduce the social and economic burden of disease in the UAE,” said Khalid Al Shaikh Mubarak, deputy director general of DHA, announcing the procedure.

Number one killer

Heart disease is the number one killer in the country, the DHA official said. A leading surgeon said he sees 10 to 15 heart patients every day. “It is a huge problem,” he said of the rampant heart disease in the country.

Surgeons said since it is a new technology, the cost is presently triple at Dh 20,000 than using a metal stent, which costs Dh 8000.

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Being able to choose Halal when it comes to cosmetic purchases is still a relatively new concept with the vast majority of brands yet to celebrate their fifth birthday. However, with the worlds Muslim population set to grow from the present 23% to around 26.4% over the next twenty years (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life) it looks like this is one section that has plenty more growing to do.

Last year (Halal Cosmetics – A New Horizon) I took a look at the science behind Halal cosmetics in a bid to understand and help communicate this very specific set of requirements to the wider cosmetic industry and its customers. The main points being:

• No alcohol (Ethanol) wherever possible. Some Muslims are happy to accept alcohol as an integral part of a fragrance product as these products can be applied to clothing and as such are unlikely to permeate the body. However, alcohol in general skin-care is less accepted and many Halal brands use alcohol (ethanol) free as a selling point.
• No Pork Derivatives. Glycerine, gelatine, collagen, Keratin and Elastin are the main culprits here. While much of the glycerine used in cosmetics these days is vegetable derived (usually a bi-product of palm oil production) some meat-derived glycerine still makes it into the cosmetics market. This is a no-go for Halal brand.
• No animal derived ingredients. This takes the above statement one step further and should include ingredients that while not animal derived themselves may have been prepared in animal-derived media (such as petri dishes). This also brings in the ingredients Hyaluronic acid, squalane, Chitin and Chitosan although again, due to a general dislike of animal derived ingredients these are now available as non-animal derived alternatives.

While this looks like it could be adhered to quite easily on the surface, the supply chain traceability required of Halal cosmetics and the attention to the detail of the preparation of each ingredient make for quite a challenge.

Take GM crops for example, in December 2010 a conference held in Penang, Malaysia (The International Workshop for Islamic Scholars “Agri-biotechnology: Sharia Compliance” agreed that GM crops could be Halal just so long as the ingredients used to develop them are from Halal sources. This position has since been fiercely debated especially by UK based Green group “The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences” who have concerns about the way GM crops undermine God’s creation and can potentially damage the surrounding ecosystem. So to date, GM is officially ‘in’ although the market seems to be opting out.

But this challenge of scientific and marketing complexity is being met by many entrepreneurial spirits who are rising to the challenge and filing this developing gap in the market.

Saaf Pure Skincare based in the UK is one of the global success stories and now sell in over thirteen countries. Having not spoken directly to Saaf I can only report on what I see on their website and from there I see a brand that complies not only with Halal certification but also with Organic, Cruelty-Free and Vegan standards. In addition the companies are vocal about their formulations being 100% natural, vegetarian, alcohol-free, non-irradiated and free from Genetically Modified Organisms. They also remind the consumer that their products are only tested on willing humans and contain only ingredients needed to fulfill the products function – no fillers, no added perfume. If this Halal brand is setting the benchmark then the buzz word for the segment is ‘Purity’.

Other Internationally recognised brands meeting the Halal requirements are the Australian-made Inika Minerals who have just broken the back of the UK market to become one of Australia’s most successful Organic make-up exports, Canadian based One-Pure Cosmetics with their sophisticated anti-ageing skincare range and UK based Hussana with their low-priced skin and hair care options.

At a local level in Malaysia, the cosmetic/Natural health market has seen a number of Halal breakthroughs in terms of producing neutriceutical beauty products that are gelatine free, anti-bacterial mouthwashes that are alcohol-free and pharmaceutical base creams that are guaranteed to be free from animal derivatives. Again, it is quite possible that these products are already available in the wider market but the emphasis on fulfilling the ethical and practical (paper trail) requirements of the Halal market combine to make these developments significant.

So far it looks like Halal cosmetics fit very neatly (at least on a scientific level) alongside other Natural, Environmentally conscious, pure and animal-testing free cosmetic ranges. So do we need Halal personal care?

To answer that we need to think more about the lifestyle of the people for whom these products are aimed.

While not all Muslim women cover their hair, for those that do there are practical implications. The hair can become more greasy, lank and hard to manage. These facts have not gone un-noticed and have been picked up on by global hair-care giant Unilever who have just launched an advertising campaign aimed at hijab wearing women. Their new Sunsilk formulation promises to help revitalize the scalp of hijab wearers with natural lime while gently addressing greasiness and dandruff made worse by religious observance. Their tag line “the first shampoo for covered hair” is as smart as it is true – build the need, fill the need.

Other uniquely Muslim requirements include products that are pure and clean enough, without any perfumed smell, to be used during the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca. During this time it is essential that cleanliness and personal hygiene are not confused with a celebration of objectified beauty. Keeping it simple is the key. The same goes for daily prayer rituals which require the wudu or ritual cleaning to take place before prayer can begin. As far as cosmetic choices go, this makes the use of hard-to-remove or semi-permanent products most inconvenient.

So, to sum up, it would seem that the science that supports the Halal ethos is as well set as any other certification process. There are some areas for further clarification and discussion (such as GMO) but a general agreement on direction and interpretation has been reached. However, when it comes to translating that into lifestyle-based solutions there still seems room for innovation. Muslim men, women and children want to buy products that tick not just the practical but also the emotional box, they want to feel a connection, they want to see themselves in the product, and they want to be truly represented. For me, the future success of Halal cosmetic has less to do with the science and more to do with winning the hearts and minds of this diverse and ethical consumer group. As the best way to do that is to listen, I think the time has come to pull up a chair, put on the kettle and start to get to know our Muslim friends and neighbours.

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Earlier, TheNetwork for Consumer Protection, a non-governmental organisation working for the rights of consumers, had staged a protest against the use of religion by some pharmaceutical companies including Swiss transnational firm Novartis to sell the vaccine with the tag of Halal (an Arabic word meaning permissible in Islam).

Dr Shahzad of Novartis confirmed the development and said his company was advertising its product to emphasise the importance of the vaccines. “The CCP is not aware of some of the basic facts as to why the company is emphasising on the importance of meningitis’s injection for pilgrims,” he said, adding the injection was compulsory for pilgrims under Saudi Arabian rules.

Responding to a question, Shahzad admitted that the word Halal was used by his company after noting that another company was also using the same tag. TheNetwork, in its complaint, was of the view that Novartis advertised the meningitis vaccine under the cover of “public service message” and by hiring a popular celebrity Junaid Jamshaid, a TV anchor of a religious programme, to give weight to its ad and target consumers in a deceptive manner.

“The advertisement is targeting around 200,000 intending Hajis (pilgrims), who are required to be vaccinated against meningitis before travel to Saudi Arabia,” it said.

Another pharmaceutical company Vikor has also adopted a similar strategy and is claiming in an advertisement that its vaccine, imported from Belgium is Halal. Vikor was also using the image of holy city of Makkah to deceive consumers, TheNetwork notice added.

Pharmaceutical companies were cashing in the religion by marking Halal on their products as if other vaccines were Haram (prohibited), said TheNetwork CEO Nadeem Iqbal.

“We should not be surprised if this irresponsible dubbing of a vaccine as Halal may spread to other vaccines like polio, which is already facing resistance from the religious lobby,” said Iqbal.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2011.

See related story: http://halalfocus.net/2011/08/24/pakistan-advertisements-for-halal-food-on-the-rise/

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A spokesperson for Novartis claims the ad wasn’t made because of any pressure and that the pharmaceutical company had always been committed to producing halal-free meningitis vaccines.  He pointed out that in 2010 the meningitis vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline was banned in Indonesia for containing traces of swine products while Novartis’ vaccine was declared halal.

However, scientists believe that drawing a distinction between supposedly halal and non-halal vaccines is a futile endeavour. Dr Saqib Ahmed, a professor of chemistry at the Quaid-e-Azam University, says that the seed stocks for meningitis vaccines were developed in the 1960s in the US and included swine enzymes.  He said that replacing the swine enzymes with bovine enzymes would likely not be successful.

Still, claiming that products are halal has now become a part of the Pakistani advertising landscape. The story of how food and other products in Pakistan began to be marketed as halal is one of religious bullying and, more importantly, big business.

The religious bullying began in July of 2009 when a religious newspaper, Daily Ummat, published over a dozen stories on consecutive days claiming that Lay’s chips used pig fat as flavour enhancers. The reports were then picked up by a couple of television channels, Royal News and Al-Huda TV as well as on some radio stations. The campaign got so vicious, says a spokesman for the company, that Lay’s was forced to run the ad for fear of losing sales. The spokesman said that the newspaper was trying to extort the company and promised to stop the campaign if they were paid off.

In the ad, Lay’s claimed that their chips had been given a halal certificate by the Jamia Ashrafia. Jamia Binoria weighed in on the matter too and declared that Lay’s chips were halal. Other companies followed by getting halal certificates, including K&N, which has certificates from both Jamia Ashrafia and Jamia Naeemia.

The certificates issued by religious seminaries, however, are not recognised internationally. The worldwide halal food industry is estimated to be over $600 billion, a market that Pakistan is only belatedly trying to enter. Over 90% of the global halal trade is in food, but the other 10% involves cosmetics, medicines and other items not usually associated with halal products

Currently, Pakistan has no laws on halal product certification but in March 2011 a team of Malaysian experts in halal certification visited the country to advise the Sindh government on creating a regulatory framework for halal certification. The training process, the Sindh Board of Revenue estimates, will take eight to nine months after which they will be able to provide certificates of their own

According to the Malaysian law, all foods are considered halal except those which come from pigs, animals that are generally considered repulsive like lizards and rats, animals which are amphibious and animals which are carnivores.

The Halal Industry Research Centre (HIRC) is the first and still one of the only groups whose certificates are accepted internationally. An executive at HIRC said that the company usually partners with foreign halal certification companies to provide Pakistani businesses an entry to the international halal market.  Tariq Iqbal Puri, the head of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, believes that getting proper halal certificates could lead to a 20 per cent increase in the export of meat products. The process of declaring a product halal, explained the executive, involves more than just the way meat is cut. Inspectors carry out visits to factories, random spot-checks and test the products in laboratories. The ultimate decision of whether to issue the certificate is decided by a Shariah committee made up of religious scholars.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th,  2011.

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Its communication director, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, said the move was vital to prevent Muslim consumers from purchasing non-halal medicines.

“Although there are no specific law concerning the matter, the relevant authorities and the media still have to play their roles in disseminating information about medicines that contain non-halal ingredients.”

He said this to reporters after attending a roundtable conference on Halal Phamaceutical Products: Issues and Challenges at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia here Tuesday.

Mohd Yusof said existing guidelines on halal products, especially those issued by Jakim, and the halal standard MS2424, were insufficient to overcome the heaping problems of non-halal medicines in the country.

Hence, he also proposed that a special law concerning halal products be drafted soon.

“Right now, there is no law to compel all products sold to Muslim consumers to be halal certified. So, as long as we don’t have such a law, we will continue to face halal dilemma, especially involving pharmaceutical products,” he explained.

In his presentation during the conference earlier, Mohd Yusof said efforts to produce more halal medicines also depended in the roles played by the consumers.

“When consumers request for halal medicines, the manufacturers, whether they like it or not, will have to apply for halal certification if they are to market their products to Muslims,” he said.

– BERNAMA

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