From Magnus Eze, Enugu
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has attributed the spike in cancer and organ failure in the country to increasing use of bleaching creams by Nigerians.
This is as the agency said a national cosmetics safety policy would soon be released.
Its Director-General, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, stated this, yesterday, in Enugu, while opening the South-East media sensitisation workshop on dangers of bleaching creams and regulatory controls.
She enjoined journalists and entertainers within the zone to join the agency in its war against the use of bleaching creams.
She said it was imperative to warn people of South-East and Nigerians in general to the harmful effects of bleaching creams, including cancer and damage to organs.
She listed other harmful effects to include skin irritation and allergy, skin burn and rashes, wrinkles, premature skin aging and prolonged healing of wounds.
Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director of Chemical Evaluation and Research, Dr. Leonard Omokpariola, said the sensitisation which had taken place in six other cities was at the directive of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha.
She said the sensitization followed the resolutions of the Senate on the need to take stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of rampant and pervasive cases of Nigerians using bleaching creams.
“This is a deliberate strategy of mobilising, educating, sensitising, and challenging Nigerian health journalists to play a frontline role in our concerted efforts to eradicate the menace of bleaching creams and needless waste of scarce resources in Nigeria.”
The NAFDAC boss said a World Health Organization (WHO, 2018) study revealed that use of skin bleaching creams was prevalent among 77 per cent of Nigerian women, the highest in Africa, compared to 59 per cent in Togo, 35 per cent in South Africa and 27 per cent in Senegal.
According to her, this scary statistic has shown that the menace of bleaching creams in Nigeria has become a national health emergency that requires a multi-faced regulatory approach.
With the training, she urged participants to assume the role of champions in the vanguard of the campaign against use of bleaching creams.
Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ikechukwu Obi,resented by Mr. Monday Obetta, Director of Pharmaceutical Services, said: “We want our people to join hands with NAFDAC to protect the skin which is an important organ, protecting other organs in the body.”