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By Madu Obi
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has said that noodles imported into the country are fake, warning that those consuming them are risking their lives.
NAFDAC director in charge of chemical evaluation and research, Dr. Leopard Omokpariola gave the warning in Awka on Tuesday at the South East media sensitization workshop on dangers of drug hawking and ripening of fruits with calcium carbide.
He said that Nigerian noodles are safe and fit for consumption because they have NAFDAC number.
According to him, one could distinguish the imported ones with the foreign languages on the packs and they do not have NAFDAC number.
Omokpariola, who represented the director general of NAFDAC, Professor Moji Adeyeye at the workshop, described many drug hawkers in the country as merchants of death, adding that they knowingly or unknowingly expose lifesaving medicines to the vagaries of inclement weather, thereby degrading their active ingredients to the things that endanger human life.
He described most of the perpetrators as semi literate, who go as far as parading themselves as Doctors and sometimes prescribe drugs to unsuspecting members of the public.
He said that despite the concern and alarm raised by many organizations on the looming dangers and health implications, the activities have continued across the country.
He said: "They sell their products cheap because they are not the genuine ones. Drugs are sensitive lifesaving commodities and should never, under any circumstance, be sold in the open market because there are standard storage conditions for them."
"These products they sell are poisons and should never be taken as they do not contain active ingredients and therefore cannot cure any ailment."
"Any drug hawker arrested by NAFDAC will be prosecuted and will be made to face jail terms."
He also spoke on the riping of fruits with dangerous carbide, noting that the action is rampant in many parts of the country, especially in the urban areas.
"They apply the dangerous gas which is used for welding to ripen fruits. It reduces oxygen supply system to the body and contains a lot of impurities."
"It causes dizziness and mood alteration and can cause sleeping disorder, mouth cancer, skin rashes, kidney problem and sometimes, cancer."
"What is used in riping fruits is ethylene gas," he said.
NAFDAC director of public affairs, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh solicited the cooperation of the media in the battle against drug hawking.
He observed that the agency, since its inception, has continued to sanitize the drug and food industry, lamenting, however, that in spite of the efforts, many people have continued to undermine its activities.
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