The Acting Director-General (DG), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Monica Eimunjeze, has cautioned Nigerians on demerit of bleaching cosmetic products with the aim to have lightening skin and be acceptable to others in the society as this act is dangerous to the health, reports ITREALMS.
Eimunjeze made this call in Lagos, at the media sensitization workshop on dangers of bleaching creams and regulatory controls programme organised for Association of Nigeria Health Journalists by NAFDAC.
She also called on Nigerians to avoid use of some smuggled tomato pastes with unacceptable ingredients in the market as they prepare for Christmas celebration, because they are harmful to the health.
“We had intelligence gathering and we were able to discover seven warehouses in Lagos, where tomato paste products without NAFDAC numbers are packed. We have made an arrest and investigation is on going,” she said.
The acting DG, said, these untested tomato pastes include family choice, mumrite, royal tesmen, lena sardines in vegetable oil, Mr. 2 to name a few tomato pastes in the market without NAFDAC approval and test.
She said the reason why NAFDAC organised the event was to engage media in order to educate members of the public on dangers of products that have not been subjected to regulatory review.
"NAFDAC cannot guarantee the contents and safety of such products," she said, stressing that her office, wants Nigerians to know that those products would harm them more than they expect and they could affect their long-term health.
Eimunjeze noted that Federal Government of Nigeria has banned importation of tomato pastes into the country therefore Nigerians should be careful as the agency is determined to safeguarding the health of the nation.
“We have regulatory control over these products. We do register products, as part of regulatory requirements to re-evaluate every product in the country” she said.
Equally speaking, the Director, Chemical Evaluation and Research at NAFDAC, Dr. Leonard Omokpariola, said there are issues in the chemicals in cosmetic products as lot of the products have dangerous effects and impacts in the body.
These harmful products, he said, make skin lighter and they have lots of toxic effects because "they continue to accumulate in the body until the skin is damaged," he warned.
The President, Association of Nigeria Health Journalists (ANHJ), Mr. Hassan Zaggi, commended NAFDAC for partnering with media and promised that the ANHJ would try its best to disseminate the information and educate Nigerians on dangers of these products.
Paul Adunwoke/Editor
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