RECENTLY, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, debunked a report that 40 per cent of the registered brands of pesticide products in Nigeria were banned or restricted for use by the European Union.
Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the Agency, remarked that Nigeria will not be a dumping ground for chemicals banned in other countries.
Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC is a signatory to the international convention banning chemicals and pesticides and is well-placed to make regulatory decisions to determine whether an active ingredient should be banned or restricted.
According to her, NAFDAC is a signatory to the Rotterdam Convention — an international treaty designed to facilitate informed decision-making by countries with regard to trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides.
The Agency was responding to an allegation by the Alliance for Action on Pesticide in Nigeria, AAPN, that there were serious gaps in pesticide regulation in Nigeria. The Alliance had observed that 40 percent of the pesticide products registered in Nigeria had been withdrawn from the European market or are heavily restricted.
Based on this observation, the Alliance called on the Senate and House of Representatives to accelerate the passage of the bill for the establishment of the Nigerian Pesticide Council, to ensure that no pesticide phased out in Europe or other leading markets were allowed into Nigeria.
The products in question, according to the report, were said to represent 57 active ingredients in 402 products that are still in use in Nigeria, many of which are classified as Highly Hazardous Pesticides, HHPs, and are dangerous for human health, animals and the environment.
In the report, the Alliance said 25 registered products in Nigeria have been proven carcinogenic, while 63 are mutagenic, and 47 endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Also, 262 products show neurotoxicity, and 224 show clear effects on reproduction. Further, the report stated that 65 per cent of the active ingredients (26 out of 40) used by farmers in Nigeria as sampled in the field study belong to the group of Highly Hazardous Pesticides, HHPs.
We recall that several years ago, NAFDAC banned the sale and supply of a number of spurious pesticides and other agrochemical products. The ban became necessary when it was discovered that the pesticides were causing food poisoning that had resulted in multiple hospitalisations and deaths after consumers had eaten food crops with high levels of the chemicals.
All the assurances by NAFDAC that it has stringent requirements of ensuring that any pesticide to be imported into Nigeria is certified safe and in use in the country of origin, should not be misplaced.
Towards curbing the influx of fake and substandard chemicals and other farm inputs into the market, NAFDAC should make public a mandatory listing of certified agrochemical dealers in the country.
To forestall the risk of unsafe exposure to unregistered/banned agrochemicals and pesticides in circulation, the gaps in the regulatory process should be expediently addressed. NAFDAC should immediately make public and accelerate the review of its list of banned pesticides.
It should intensify its campaign and sensitisation of Nigerians to stop the use of agrochemicals not approved by the agency and to desist from the practice of using pesticides to harvest fish.
Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com
