The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has cautioned against the use of azo dyes, which cause cancer in palm oil and the dangers in using sniper insecticide to preserve any type of food or keep flies away from meat.
Azo dyes are widely used to treat textiles, leather articles, and some foods. Chemically related to azo dyes are azo pigments, which are insoluble in water and other solvents.
The agency’s director general, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, gave the warning at its sensitisation programme against fake drugs held in Abuja.
She also warned against buying medicines from hawkers besides reminding Nigerians of the dangers in wrong use of pesticides and insecticides, wrong use of chemicals and their hazardous effects and the use of formalin on food and its associated health hazards.
She said the health of Nigerians is important to the agency and blamed the influx and prevalence of substandard products in the country to absence of a regulatory body like NAFDAC at the various ports of entry.
The director general said the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the challenge posed by substandard personal protective equipment, adding that the sensitisation campaigns would contribute significantly to the federal government’s concerted efforts to inform, sensitise, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of the unregulated products.
“We are using a multifaceted approach to reduce substandard and falsified medicine in the country. The Federal Government has approved a device that can be used to know whether a medicine is falsified or not. And we are going through the process of procurement, to make that available throughout Nigeria,” she said.
Adeyeye also stated that the sensitisation campaign was targeted at market women and men, road transport workers and employers, as well as community youth groups.
“It is our expectations that at the end of the campaign, participants and target audience will become dependable partners of NAFDAC and be in the forefront of the campaigns, by disseminating the information and messages to people at the grassroots,” she added.
She revealed that the country has 17 per cent prevalence rate of substandard and falsified drugs.
However, she said the figure was no longer tenable as it was done early 2020 before the outbreak of COVID-19.
“Actually, in terms of substandard and fake drugs, South West has the highest prevalent rate. In terms of states, Lagos has the highest and we are working on that to reduce it.
The campaign themes are multifaceted with clear, concise, informative and educative messages, aimed at arousing the awareness and consciousness of the general public about the various infractions that impact negatively on our healthcare delivery system,” she said.
