Juths Gupah, Maiduguri
April 26, 2023.
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye has said that the Agency has commenced raids on bleaching creams outlets in six geo-policed zones in the country.
According to her, there are no health benefits to the procurement and use of bleaching creams among the people.
Adeyeye disclosed this, yesterday (Wednesday), during the Northeast Zonal Media Sensitization Workshop on the Dangers of Bleaching Creams and Regulatory Control in Maiduguri, Borno state.
Prof. Adeyeye, represented by the Director of Chemical Evaluation and Research, Dr. Leonard Omokpariola, said: “We are taking stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of rampant and pervasive cases of using bleaching creams.”
“We immediately took some decisive steps such as sensitization of the public through different media outlets,” including the enforcement through intelligence and raids at trade fairs.
He said that the raids have resulted in large seizures and destruction of violative products.
According to him, the sensitization actions were made to journalists was Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Jos, Port-Harcourt, Enugu and yesterday in Maiduguri.
“This is a deliberate strategy of mobilizing, education and sensitizing stakeholders and the general public in the country.
He, therefore, challenged health journalists to play their roles in eradicating the menace of bleaching creams.
“A lot of scarce resources are being wasted on the illegal production, importation and use of the various bleaching creams,” he lamented.
Continued, “Today’s workshop is a training the trainers’ programme with so that the 60 journalists will assume the role of champions in the vanguard of campaigns against bleaching creams.”
He added that on the party of the Agency, has commenced raids on outlets of bleaching creams in the Northeast region.
He, therefore, assured that NAFDAC will henceforth constantly engage the media, as the Agency strives to extend the positive impacts of raids to the grassroots.
He attributed the dangers of bleaching creams to include cancer, damage to vital organs, skin irritation and allergy.
Other dangers to the use of the creams comprise skin burn and rashes, wrinkles.
“The use of the bleaching creams among the people, also leads to premature skin ageing and prolongs the healing of wounds,” warned Omokpariola.”
He added that a World Health Organisation (WHO) study in 2018 revealed that the use of skin bleaching among women in Nigeria has hit 77 per cent among countries in Africa.
“This is compared to 39 per cent in Togo, 35% in South Africa and 27 per cent in Senegal,” he noted.
He, therefore, warned that the menace of bleaching creams in the country is a national health emergency that requires a multi-faced regulatory approach.
The Northeast Zone NAFDAC Director, Dr. Bukar Usman, in paper titled: “The Cosmovigillance Best Practices,” said that the Agency is very much concerned, as a lot of resources are used in the destruction of people’s lives.
End.
