National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised concern over the use of calcium carbide for fruit ripening in Northwest states of Nigeria and sought the support of the media and other stakeholders in the campaign to stop the practice.
Addressing journalists at a zonal media sensitisation workshop on the dangers of drug hawking and ripening of fruits with calcium carbide held in Kaduna, the director-general of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, made the position of the agency known.
She pledged to sustain and strengthen existing collaboration with the Association of Health Journalists in Nigeria towards mobilising, educating, sensitising, and conscientising Nigerian journalists to play a frontline role in the concerted efforts toward eradicating the menace of drug hawking and ripening of fruits with calcium carbide in Nigeria.
The DG who was represented by the director of chemical evaluation and research, Dr Patrick Omokpariola, said the agency noticed the dangerous practices in the sale and consumption of fruits artificially ripened with calcium carbide as well as illegal hawking of drugs in the open market.
The NAFDAC boss assured journalists of the agency’s commitment in bringing the campaign to the grassroots level for positive impacts of its regulatory activities.
“Acetylene produced by Calcium Carbide affects the neurological system and reduces oxygen supply to the brain and further induces prolonged hypoxia.
“The impurities are hazardous to pregnant women and children and may lead to headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, mental confusion, memory loss, cerebral oedema (swelling in the brain caused by excessive fluids), sleepiness, seizure etc.
“Calcium carbide is alkaline in nature and erodes the mucosal tissue in the abdominal region and disrupts intestinal functions.
“Consuming such artificially ripened fruits could result in sleeping disorders, mouth ulcers, skin rashes, kidney problems and possibly even cancer,” the DG said.
