The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has declared that 77 per cent of Nigerian Women “use bleaching creams that are dangerous to their skins and other organs.”
NAFDAC’s director-general, Prof. Moji Christiana Adeyeye, made the declaration at a one-day North-central zone media sensitisation workshop on dangers of bleaching creams and regulatory control, organised by the Agency.
Represented by the director, Chemical Evaluation and Research, Dr. Leonard Omokpariols, the NAFDAC boss said using skin bleaching creams caused “serious physical and internal problems to human beings.”
“That is why we are engaging the media to intensify the level of publicity on the dangers of skin bleaching creams on Nigerians,” she said.
According to her, statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO) has proven that Nigerian women constitute 77 per cent in the use of skin bleaching creams, thus leading the African countries.
Also speaking, the Agency’s director of public affairs, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, said the workshop was to educate the mass media with the right information and campaign against use of bleaching creams in Nigeria.
“Public ignorance is not an excuse before the law. The role of the mass media in promotion of public health is very important not only for cosmetics and all other NAFDAC regulatory products,” he said.
Also speaking, the president of Health Journalists Association, Mr. Hassan Zagi, said as public opinion shapers, they should continue to enlighten the people on the dangers of skin bleaching.
