NAFDAC sensitises journalists on danger of skin-bleaching creams 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration And  Control(NAFDAC) has sensitised health journalists on the danger of bleaching creams.

The Acting Director-General of NAFDAC, Monica Eimunjeze urged the media to take the front seat in the campaign against the skin bleaching pandemic by providing Nigerians with the right information to make the right decision about safeguarding their health.

Eimunjeze also lamented the proliferation of skin-bleaching creams and products in the country.

She said the proliferation had assumed alarming proportions to the detriment of the majority of the unsuspecting Nigerians.

She, however, cautioned Nigerians against the many bleaching creams out there that were not regulated by the agency, and so, they could cause harmful effects to the body.

She stated that some of these bleaching creams had also gone through the regulatory process on the list of licensed items that were available in the record of the agency.

“There are those who are clandestinely in the market in which the agency is yet to effect the regulatory control, and Nigerians must be careful about those creams.

“We see dangers inherent in using those creams products that are not in our regulatory process, so we are collaborating with health journalists to help us increase awareness on the products that have not gone through the regulatory process on the impact these could have on their health.

“When you use a product that has chemicals that could affect the body in many ways or systemically cause a reaction on the skin and could affect the organ.

“There are many consequences such as kidney failure, liver damage from an accumulation of toxic chemicals within the system, so we want people to be aware of possibilities and try to modify their behaviour.

“Although, people have the right to make choices, but you need to make informed choices that will guide you and not the ones that will hurt you.”

Eimunjeze also maintained that there was a need for reasonable Nigerians, particularly social scientists, to examine and look at the reasons why people or why some men go for white or fair women.

“This notion comes along with the way people perceive themselves to make them more receivable or acceptable in the society.”

She stated that the examination was necessary in order to make those bleachers re-orientate themselves to the realities of life.

She disclosed that the bleaching problem was not peculiar to Nigeria alone, but a global issue that needed to be discussed.

She condemned the idea of bleaching totally, adding that there were creams that were approved and formulated with specific colour one has and that this was more acceptable than bleaching the body.

Eimunjeze stated that a lot of creams were produced that “many don’t know the formulation knowledge in which the creams were made,” adding that such creams were toxic to the body.

She vowed that the agency would not allow that to continue to happen, saying that NAFDAC had clear knowledge of the formulation of those under the agency’s regulation.

The DG also talked about organic products which were perceived as natural, saying that not all organic products were good for the body if it was not under regulation.

In his welcome address, the Director of Public Affairs,  Abubakar Jimoh expressed delight over the concerns raised on the harm caused by bleaching creams by the federal government that had necessitated the national media sensitisation campaign and regulatory controls.

Jimoh took the opportunity to call on the media as they were the right vehicle and conveyor belt for evidence-based information to broadcast the campaign to the public, to take the lead in this bid to help rid the nation of the bleaching pandemic across Nigeria. (Adapted from Nigerian Tribune)