The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has vowed to take stringent regulatory actions to stem the dangerous tide of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide.
She noted that consumption of fruits ripened with calcium carbide may cause cancer, heart, kidney and liver failure.
The NAFDAC boss also warned that the menace of drug hawking poses serious challenge to Healthcare Delivery System in the country adding that drug hawkers are also the major Distributors and Suppliers of narcotic medicines to criminal networks such as Armed Bandits, Insurgents, Kidnappers and Armed Robbers. Drug Hawkers constitute serious threat to our national security.
Speaking at the Flag off the NAFDAC Media Sensitization Workshop on Dangers of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide., yesterday in Abuja Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye said that the agency has noticed the dangerous practice of sale and consumption of fruits artificially ripened with calcium carbide as well as illegal hawking of drugs in the open market adding that ripening of fruits with carbides is another public challenge facing us today and the Agency has deployed a multifaceted approach to tackle the menace.
Adeyeye noted the consumption of fruits such as mango, banana, plantain, guava, orange, grape, etc or any other fruits ripened with calcium carbide is dangerous to health adding that fruits artificially ripened with calcium carbide may be ripe on the skin, the inside remain unripe.
According to her, fruits ripened with Calcium Carbide may also cause frequent thirst, irritation in mouth and nose, weakness, permanent skin damage, difficulty in swallowing, vomiting, skin ulcer while higher exposure may cause undesired fluid build-up in lungs (pulmonary oedema).
She said, “You can identify such artificially ripened fruits if you notice that the fruits are all yellow whereas the stem is dark, this is true especially with banana and plantain. In addition, naturally ripened fruits usually have brown or black spots, while those artificially ripened have traces of powdery substances and peel off. Calcium Carbide when sprayed with water reacts chemically to produce acetylene, which acts like ethylene and ripens fruits by a similar process. Calcium carbide generally contains impurities such as arsenic, lead particles, phosphorus, etc., that pose several very serious health hazards.
According to her, the fect of artificial ripening on fruit quality include considerable loss of properties such as colour, taste and feel, and such practice does not give the natural aroma and flavour to the fruits as these fruits do not possess uniform colour and are less juicy than when ripened naturally and have comparatively shorter shelf life.
She stated that acetylene produced by Calcium Carbide affects the neurological system and reduces oxygen supply to the brain and further induces prolonged hypoxia and stressed the need to strengthen NAFDAC’s existing collaboration with Association of Health Journalists in Nigeria towards mobilizing, educating, sensitizing, and conscientizing Nigerian Journalists to play frontline role in our concerted efforts to eradicate the menace of Drug Hawking and Ripening of Fruits with Calcium Carbide in Nigeria.
On the need to combat drug hawking in the country, Adeyeye noted that most of the drugs sold by the illiterate and semi-literate Drug Hawkers are counterfeit, substandard or expired, and therefore do not meet the quality, safety and efficacy requirement of regulated medicines.
She pointed out that many Drug Hawkers are knowingly or unknowingly merchants of Death who expose essential and Life Saving Medicines to the vagaries of inclement weather which degrade the active ingredients of the medicine and turn them to poisons thus endangering human lives.
“Prescription drugs are also sold by the itinerant Drug Hawkers who also hold consultation, recommend and prescribe medicines to their gullible “patients”. Drugs are sensitive life-saving commodities which should not be sold on the streets/motor parks or open markets just like any other article of trade. I wish to warn that any Drug Hawker arrested by NAFDAC will be prosecuted, will face a jail term, and our Enforcement Officers are currently carrying out synchronized nation-wide operation. No offender will be spared from facing the full wrath of the Law. In this regard, we solicit the co-operation and support of all other Law Enforcement Agencies, Nigerian Journalists and well-meaning Nigerians in riding the country of this harmful and shameful practice”.
