NAFDAC Decries Drug Hawking, Ripening Fruits With Calcium Carbide

The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has lamented drug hawking and use of calcium carbide to ripen fruits in Nigeria.

 

The Agency says dangers associated with both practices are numerous and can become life threatening if not urgently addressed.

 

Professor Moji Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC, said this on Friday at a media sensitization workshop held in Ibadan, Oyo state capital.

 

According to her, consuming drugs procured from hawkers and fruits ripened artificially has severe implications for individuals and the country at large.

 

Adeyeye said both dangerous practices had reached an alarming level in the country and therefore called for urgent and decisive government intervention.

 

She said NAFDAC rose to the occasion following concerns raised by several national dailies, non-governmental organizations as well as well meaning Nigerians.

 

The DG said the menace of drug hawking posed serious challenge to healthcare delivery system in the country and the workshop underscored NAFDAC’s determination to stamp it out.

 

She said: “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.

 

“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”.

 

Professor Adeyeye, while decrying the prevalent practice of ripening fruits with carbide, assured that NAFDAC was determined to tackle the menace, using a multifaceted approach to ensure greater effectiveness.

 

Speaking on dangers of consuming fruits ripened with chemicals, NAFDAC’s Director in charge of Chemical Evaluation and Research, Dr Patrick Omopariola, said several dangerous means were being employed to ripen fruits in the country.

 

He said unscrupulous fruit retailers habitually used calcium carbide, acetylene gas, ethephon, ethylene and ethylene glycol to artificially ripen fruits for sale.

 

He said: “Fruits ripened through artificial processes had their organic composition of vitamins and micronutrients broken down with the fruits remaining raw inside and therefore unfit for human consumption.

 

“Fruits ripened with calcium carbide could lead to headaches, dizziness, memory loss, cerebral oedema, numbness in legs and hands, general weakness, cold and damp skin, low blood pressure and seizures“, he added.

 

Omopariola urged Nigerians, particularly pregnant women to avoid fruits ripened with chemicals as consumption could cause stomach upset, stomach mucosal tissue damage, intestinal function disruption, peptic ulcer and neurological system damage.

 

He enjoined Nigerians to stop buying artificially ripened fruits but instead purchase them raw and then allow them undergo the natural process of ripening before consuming them.

 

 

Oyenike Oyeniyi