The National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC has declared a State of Emergency on bleaching.
This came after NAFDAC discovered that Nigeria today had been ranked first in cases of bleaching.
Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director General of NAFDAC stated this while flagging off a media sensitization workshop on Dangers of Bleaching Creams and Regulatory Control organized by the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists in Kano on Thursday.
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According to her, the problem had become a national emergency that called for serious attention.
The DG stated that 77 percent of those engaged in bleaching in Nigeria were women, hence the need for a multifaceted approach to fighting the menace of bleaching creams. She warned that bleaching creams had fatal health hazards.
Adeyeye said:
“The World Health Organization study in 2018 revealed that the use of skin bleaching cream is prevalent amongst 77 percent of Nigerian women, which is the highest in Africa compared to 59 percent in Togo, 35 percent in South Africa, and 27 percent in Senegal.
“These scary statistics have shown that the menace of bleaching creams in Nigeria has become a national health emergency that requires a multi-faceted regulatory approach.”
She also explained that in response to these statistics, the Federal Government, through the office of the Secretary to the Government, Boss Mustapha wrote to NAFDAC last year seeking stringent measures to be implemented against the menace.
She disclosed that sensitization workshops in the six geopolitical zones were part of the measures being taken.
She said:
“This sensitization workshop is a training of trainers program with the great expectation that participants will assume roles of champions in the vanguard of the campaign against the use of bleaching creams.
“I wish to assure you that NAFDAC will henceforth constantly engage the mass media as we strive to bring down to the grass levels the positive impact of our regulatory activities.
“Even though I have assigned some of my competent officers to carry out this training, it has become imperative for me to warn that some of the harmful effects of Bleaching creams include cancer, damage to vital organs in the body, skin irritation and allergy, skin burn and rashes, wrinkles, premature aging and prolonged healing of wounds.”
