Wholl Protect Consumers? [Archives:2000/49/Business & Economy]

The weak purchase power of Yemeni consumers and low level of his income render them to hard living circumstances. With the rise of prices, such circumstances help draw limited choices for them, mainly cheap smuggled products.
In the absence of control of those smuggled goods flowing into our open markets, consumers find themselves face to face with cheap but unidentified products. The need for cheap products lead them to buy what they are offered even without checking the expiry date, in fact many a product doesnt even have a trade mark or an indication of the producing country, leading many Yemenis to food poisoning and other negative effects. Inefficiency of the related authorities being the key factor for such tragedies.
Creating an unhealthy generation is the result of the circumstances in which the yemeni citizen lives in today.
Therefore consumer protection is the responsibility of the government, which must impose strict control and monitor on food stuff entering the country, fight smuggling and import only those abiding by the international industrial standardization.
In the Capital Secretariat everything is sold in the sidewalk. Expiry date of food products offered is due for a few days later. It is more deplorable that some pharmacists cheat patients and sell them expired drugs. Had health offices inspected all pharmacies heaps of such drugs should be spotted.
The spread of smuggled Israeli products in our markets is worrisome, especially when we take people’s health in consideration. Israeli products might be a real threat and danger to the life of nations opposing its existence in Palestine.
Commercial counterfeiting and smuggling does not endanger only consumers’ lives but damage the reputation of the local products and make dubious their prices when there are similar and cheaper ones.
Media should participate in campaigns aiming at educating consumers on dangers of expired products such as chocolate, drinks, bottled milk, honey, beverages, sweets, drugs, biscuits, cigarettes, etc.
Protecting consumers is a national duty and responsibility because it means saving the nation’s lives.

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