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From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned consumers against patronising foods that have been ripened with calcium carbide and purchasing drugs from hawkers.
NAFDAC handed down the warning at its Media Sensitization workshop organised for the Association of Health Journalists in South South zone on dangers of drug hawking and ripening of fruits with calcium carbide and held on Uyo at the weekend.
Speaking at the workshop, Leonard Omokpariola, the Director of chemical evaluation and research of NAFDAC in a presentation titled “Dangers of Artificially Ripening Fruits with Calcium Carbides” said the dangers associated with the use of the substance are enormous as the it breaks down all the essential nutrients, micro nutrients, minerals and vitamins inside the food and then then into other toxic chemicals in those fruits.
In addition, Omokpariola said carbide itself has two poisonous substances- arcenic and phorsperous- which cause cancer and liver damage,leasing to the on-going media campaign to stop the use of these substances under any circumstances.
According to him, those who use these things are causing murder and creating all sorts of problem for our people because when they take these things they become sick and some get cancer which is very expensive to treat.
He further said: “Foods that are ripened by calcium carbide have a lot of features like dusty particles in it as if they buried them inside ashes. Secondly, in such foods the outside will be yellowish and the main part of it will remain unripe you will not be able to remove the peel completely.
“It is commonly seen in some banana in which when you remove the peel and part of it will remain sticky on the main banana meaning it has been ripened by calcium carbide.
“If it is mango you will see some black patches and it will look as if they poured hot water on it and that is how to notice that the fruit has been ripened by calcium carbide.”
He attributed the resort to these chemical economic down turn in the country forcing a lot of people especially sellers and dealers not to allow their fruits to ripen before they harvest them, adding that poor transport infrastructure and the challenge of moving things from the rural area to the urban area as a contributory factor behind the patronage of
calcium carbide.
Also speaking at the event, Francis Ononiwu, the director Investigation and Enforcement of the Agency, Francis Ononiwu, who was represented by the deputy, Dr. Christiana Ezenwa, stated in a paper titled “The Menace Of Drug Hawking in Nigeria,” that street vending of drugs is a menace in Nigeria and the drug hawker erroneously claims to know everything.
He maintained that “the business leads those who patronise them to an early grave as those who sell the drugs are merchants of death.
“Majority of drugs they hawk are prescription drugs which usually requires the advise of a specialist. Things being hawked are nothing but poison because when exposed to the elements of the weather the drugs will be reduced to nothing.”
