…vows no offender will be spared from facing full wrath of Law.
…says consuming Ripening Fruits
with Calcium Carbides cause cancer, heart, kidney, liver failure.
By Joy Odor
The Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye has bemaoned that many Drug Hawkers are knowingly or unknowingly merchants of Death who expose essential and Life Saving Medicines to the vagaries of inclement weather which degrade the active ingredients of the medicine and turn them to poisons thus endangering human lives.
Prof Mojisola who made this known in her welcome address while declaring open the Flagg off the NAFDAC Media Sensitization Workshop on Dangers of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide in Abuja on Tuesday also informed that the Drug Hawkers are also the major Distributors and Suppliers of narcotic medicines to criminal networks such as Armed Bandits, Insurgents, Kidnappers and Armed Robbers.
DG NAFDAC opined that the Drug Hawkers constitute serious threat to the national security, adding that the menace of drug hawking poses serious challenge to Healthcare Delivery System in the country and this underscored NAFDAC’s resolute determination to totally eradicate the illicit trade.
According to her, most of the drugs sold by the illiterate and semi-literate Drug Hawkers are counterfeit, substandard or expired, and therefore do not meet the quality, safety and efficacy requirement of regulated medicines.
Prof Mojisola warned that any Drug Hawker arrested by NAFDAC would be prosecuted, face a jail term, and the agency Enforcement Officers are currently carrying out synchronized nation-wide operation.
She vowed that no offender will be spared from facing the full wrath of the Law and solicited the co-operation and support of all other Law Enforcement Agencies, Nigerian Journalists and well-meaning Nigerians in riding the country of this harmful and shameful practice.
The DG NAFDAC said this was in line with the agency resolve to intensify and widen the scope of its publicity and public awareness campaigns as part of the transformative programmes of her second tenure of office.
She assured that NAFDAC will constantly engage the mass media as the agency strive to bring down to the grassroot level positive impacts of the regulatory activities.
“The flag – off for this sensitization workshop today is again a fulfilment of my promise to sustain and strengthen NAFDAC’s existing collaboration with Association of Health Journalists in Nigeria towards mobilizing, educating, sensitizing, and conscientizing Nigerian Journalists to play frontline role in our concerted efforts to eradicate the menace of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide in Nigeria.
“It is my candid opinion that sensitization workshop of this nature is a training the Trainers’ programme with the great expectation that participants will assume the role of champions in the vanguard of the campaign against drug hawking and the use of calcium carbide to ripen fruits.
“You will recall that NAFDAC recently organised similar sensitization workshops in eight cities across the country to raise awareness on the dangers of using bleaching creams.
“There have been clarion calls by well-meaning Nigerians on the need to take stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide.
“In addition, several national dailies and non-governmental organizations have raised concerns on the looming danger and health implication of these two nefarious activities by certain unpatriotic and unscrupulous citizens in our country.
“Since 2019, we immediately took some decisive steps such as sensitization of the public through different media outlets, enforcement through intelligence and raids in fruit markets that have resulted in seizures and destruction of violative products” she said.
Speaking on the danger of Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbides, Prof Mojisola lamented that consuming ripening of fruits with carbides such as mango, banana, plantain, Papaya, guava, orange, grape etc,contains impurities such as arsenic, lead particles, phosphorus, that pose several serious health hazards and cause cancer, heart, kidney and liver failure.
“They may also cause frequent thirst, irritation in mouth and nose, weakness, permanent skin damage, difficulty in swallowing, vomiting, skin ulcer and so forth. Higher exposure may cause undesired fluid build-up in lungs (pulmonary oedema).
“Acetylene produced by Calcium Carbide affects the neurological system and reduces oxygen supply to the brain and further induces prolonged hypoxia.
“The impurities are hazardous to pregnant women and children and may lead to headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, mental confusion, memory loss, cerebral oedema (swelling in the brain caused by excessive fluids), sleepiness, seizure etc.
“Calcium Carbide is alkaline in nature and erodes the mucosal tissue in the abdominal region and disrupts intestinal functions, Consuming such artificially ripened fruits could result in sleeping disorders, mouth ulcers, skin rashes, kidney problems and possibly even cancer.
” Other symptoms of poisoning include diarrhoea (with or without blood), burning or tingling sensation in abdomen and chest difficulty in swallowing, irritation in eyes/skin, sore throat, cough, shortness in breathing, numbness etc” she said.
It is gratifying to announce that apart from sensitization campaigns and Enforcement activities, NAFDAC has commissioned a scientific study on the best approach towards mitigating the health hazards posed by ripening of fruits with carbides.
DG NAFDAC assured tye agency confident in winning the war against these two hydra-headed public health menaces.
