A United States-trained Educational Technology and former commissioner for Science and Technology in Niger State, Hon Abubakar Katcha, has revealed how his wife nearly lost her breasts to a Radioactive metal found in her brassiere.
Katcha, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who served as a member of Film Censored Board under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that his wife bought the new brassiere a few days before their child’s naming ceremony in 2023.
He alleged that after the wife wore the bra, the breast got swollen to the extent that she could not breastfeed the child directly but added that the suspected radioactive metal capable of causing cancer with a Chinese inscription was discovered on May 18, this year.
The former commissioner said the inscription, “Made in China” was found on the metal hidden on both sides of the bra his wife bought from Kure Ultra-Modern Market in Minna.
“In October 2023, my wife delivered a baby boy, and we were preparing for his naming ceremony. So, I gave her money to buy things for the occasion. She went to the Kure Market in Minna to purchase the things she wanted to use for the ceremony.
“When she got there, she decided to also buy a brassiere, you know women, but she did not know that the brassiere she bought has the radioactive material until when she was washing the same brassiere on May 18, few days ago. It was then that we found the metal materials hidden in both side of the brassiere.
He said it was when the metals were found on the two sides of the brassiere after they were forced open that the picture of what might have caused the ailment became clearer to them.
He said his wife took some antibiotics and got well after several months but the fear of the signs and symptoms of cancer was palpable.
“I am here to make the world know, especially Nigerians. What happened to my wife is something I don’t want to happen to anybody in this country or the world because it is really frightening.
“As a scientist and technologist, I know some of these things. What they flood Nigerian markets with will ordinarily not happen in advanced countries,” he stated.
He therefore called on the government to check imported items very well saying that he might not want to propound any conspiracy theory but it was likely that the importers of the brassiere might be agents for causing breast cancer artificially.
Katcha said, as a scientist, “I will not rule out the possibility of the people producing these brassieres trying to infuse the causative agents of cancer in our women so that they will patronise their medical facilities and medications.”
On whether his wife has gone for further medical examination since the discovery, he said “no,” as the wife was doing well with no signs and symptoms of ailment again.
Reacting to the viral claim alleging the discovery of radioactive metal in a bra, the national coordinator, National Cancer Control and Nuclear Medicine Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Uchechukwu Emmanuel Nwokwu, described the situation as “very unlikely” and called for proper scientific examinations.
Dr Nwokwu expressed skepticism about the claim, emphasising that while wearing tight bras with metal components can cause physical discomfort or trauma to the breast, there is no known medical evidence linking such components to cancer.
“That is strange. If it’s a bra, the metal can cause trauma and not cancer. For instance, wearing a very tight bra may cause the metal to press against the breast, leading to discomfort, but not necessarily cancer,” he said.
The health expert urged anyone making such claims to present the bra for proper analysis by professionals. “If they have a very strong suspicion, then let them bring the bra for examination by an expert to ascertain what is on it,” he said.
He added that such an occurrence has not been recorded in medical literature, although medicine avoids making absolute conclusions. “It has not been recorded anywhere that such a thing can happen, but in medicine, we never say never, though it’s very unlikely,” Dr Nwokwu stated.
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