The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has highlighted the causes of the high incidence of kidney disease and different types of cancer in the country.
The Director-General of the agency, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, at a sensitisation campaign in Osun State on Tuesday, linked the increasing rate of kidney diseases and cancer to irresponsible use of drugs and chemicals in food.
Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in the agency, Mr Sheriff Olagunju, stressed the need for Nigerians to stop buying drugs from street vendors but from licensed pharmacies and medicine stores.
According to her, the standard of drugs sold by street vendors has been altered and dangerous to health.
“The dangerous practice of using petrol or kerosine tanker trucks to transport vegetable oil is very dangerous to consumers. When such contaminated vegetable oil is consumed, it causes damages kidney, liver and several other organs within our system that we do not even know,” she said.
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“That is why in recent times, we have a lot of cancer and kidney ailments in Nigeria.”
Adeyeye added, “Many other practices such as using potassium bromate in bread production, formaline to preserve meat, use of of dyes to enhance to redness of palm oil and the use of sniper to preserve beans from insect constitute risk for consumers of such food items.
“We please with market women and food producers to desist from such act in the general interest of the people and the country as a whole”, she said.
