NAFDAC begins nationwide tour over dangers in bleaching cream
By Joy Obakeye
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has said it will embark on a nationwide tour to warn of the dangers inherent in the usage of bleaching creams before the clampdown on the manufacturers and sellers of bleaching creams.
This was disclosed by the Acting Director General of the Agency, Dr Monica Eimunjeze during a media sensitisation workshop for media on the dangers of bleaching cream.
According to her, bleaching creams out there are not registered by the agency, and so, could be harmful to the body. “There are those who are clandestinely in the market in which the Agency is yet to effect the regulatory control and consumers must be very careful about these creams.”
She urged the Media to champion the campaign against the skin bleaching pandemic by providing Nigerians with the right information to make the right decision about safeguarding their health.
DrEimunjeze decried the proliferation of skin Bleaching creams and products in the country that has assumed alarming proportion to the detriment of the majority of the unsuspecting Nigerians.
She noted that most of the bleaching creams out there are not registered by the agency, and so, could be harmful to the body. “There are those who are clandestinely in the market in which the Agency is yet to effect the regulatory control and consumers must be very careful about these creams.”
She said, “We will be moving to full-time enforcement so we have Nigerians on notice. We have had some operations in the past, so we are going to look very closely again. When full-time enforcement starts, everybody will understand the reason we are doing what we are doing. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.”
“We see dangers inherent in using these cream 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 impacts these could have on their health.”
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She noted that the use of bleaching creams is not only endemic in Nigeria but is global.
“Most people do not do skincare when you do skincare you protect your skin, you use sunscreen, you exfoliate which is not bad but when you use harmful chemicals that are dangerous to the layers of the skin and you go to the sun without protection, you begin to burn,” she added.
