The NAFDAC Head of Investigation and Enforcement, Federal Taskforce, Embugushiki-Musa Godiya, also said the agency would work to ensure that fake cosmetics and other counterfeit products were completely wiped out of the country.
News
Alcoholic-herbal beverages: Consumers risk liver, kidney damage – Experts
Alcoholic-tainted herbal beverages have a long history in Nigeria, with many people using them for medicinal purposes. However, in recent years, their production and consumption have skyrocketed.
Health experts believe this development poses potential significant health risks, insisting there is a need for greater regulation and awareness about the dangers of consuming them.
Until recently, such herbal drinks were often used as a remedy for various health conditions. However, they have become a growing menace in Nigeria, with many people consuming them, especially those living in the suburbs, without understanding their inherent dangers. Moreso, these drinks often are marketed as natural and safe.
Made by fermenting herbs, roots, and other natural ingredients and alcohol, they are often sold in unregulated markets. They are not subject to the same safety standards as commercial alcoholic beverages.
One of the many concerns about alcoholic herbal drinks is their potential to contain toxic ingredients.
This reporter visited some parts of Jikwoyi, Zuba, Nyanya, Dutse Alhaji, and Lugbe, some of the satellite towns in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory, FCT, where these alcoholic herbal drinks are sold and consumed in large quantities.
DAILY POST findings showed that activities in most of the drinking joints in the locations come alive early morning time and in the evening.
Some customers said they resorted to taking alcoholic herbal beverages because one could quickly get high with a small amount of money while serving as a drug for a particular ailment.
However, a recently conducted study by researchers from the University of Ibadan, Oyo-State, titled “Nigerian Psychoactive Alcoholic Herbal Mixture Impacts, Behavioural Performance and Caused Brain Biochemical and Histopathological Alterations in Mice” found that alcohol herbal mixture caused neurobehavioral and biochemical perturbations in mice.
The results showed an enhanced reduction in locomotor activity and impaired motor coordination in mice following acute and sub-acute administrations of an alcoholic herbal mixture combined with ethanol.
The study further provided evidence of behavioural perturbations such as anxiety, poor working memory, and brain biochemical changes, including increased oxidative stress biomarkers.
According to the study, this implies that consuming an alcoholic herbal mixture might produce substance-attributable harm and quicken neurodegenerative diseases in humans.
Some herbal drinks contain high levels of methanol – a toxic alcohol that can cause blindness and death, interact with medications, or exacerbate pre-existing health conditions.
The Nigerian government has taken steps to address the problem of alcoholic herbal drinks, including banning the production and sale of certain brands. However, enforcement of these bans is often lax, and many people continue to produce and sell them illegally.
The Director of Savehealth Pharmacy, based in Port-Harcourt, Giginna Mathias, told DAILY POST in an interview that standardisation, a critical issue in drug formulations, is lacking in alcoholic herbal beverages.
According to the health expert, standardisation implies the quantity or the amount of substance one needs to take that would give one a specific result.
Mathias noted that since alcoholic herbal beverages do not have a specific dosage, there is a lack of standardisation, and it could make content differ from region to region.
He further noted that they pose a risk to health because alcohol, he said, is a substance of abuse and can build up a tolerance in someone’s system.
”The issue with herbal formulations, generally, before you start talking about alcohol itself, is that they lack standardisation.
“Standardisation actually means the quantity or the amount of that substance that you need to take that will give you a specific result.
“Let’s say, for instance, you are using it to treat malaria, what is the quantity you need to take that will give you malaria treatment? And is it uniformly the same dosage formula across board?
”For instance, if you say you are using ‘dogo yaro’ to treat malaria, what is the dosage of ‘dogo yaro’ in it? Is it the same dosage you are going to use in Ibadan, Enugu or Lagos whenever you want to take it?
“Since it does not have a specific dosage, there is a lack of standardisation. And the content can differ from region to region. In other words, you are not actually sure of what you are taking.
”Then, when you go further to add alcohol to it and call it a ‘alcoholic herbal formulation’ as we have in the market now, it poses a risk because alcohol is a substance of abuse and a substance that can build up a tolerance.
“And with the perception that it has the ability to treat a kind of particular ailment because a lot of people who take it have the perception that if they drink herbal formulation, that if they are sick with malaria, typhoid or any other thing that a herbal part of it will take care of whatever sickness they have.
“So they tend to take it more than it is supposed, which exposes them more to internal organ damage and kidney and liver dysfunction.
“These are very much prevalent, and you can attribute it to too much consumption of all those herbal alcoholic formulations that are everywhere in the market because they lack standardisation and uniform basic formulation.
“And there is no approval system basically in terms of NAFDAC, Pharmaceutical Council, or regulatory agencies ensuring that what the manufacturers sell today is what they will sell tomorrow. So it is more of a health risk”.
He concluded by insisting that ”There is basically no reason someone will wake up under trado-medicine and start formulating alcoholic drinks, beverages or alcoholic herbal beverages they are selling in the market without standardisation of the process.
“These are supposed to fall under nutraceuticals, which cover the area of beverages. And standardisation is a major challenge in the herbal formulation.”
Meanwhile, an expert in Plant Physiology and Biotechnology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Mr Hyacinth Obayi, stated that herbal remedies have not been segmented in terms of dosage.
Obayi revealed that alcoholic herbal beverages pose a threat to the human kidney, liver or any other essential organ when their lethal dosages have not been determined.
He said, ”Herbal remedy for now has not been segmented in terms of dosage. These people formulate alcoholic herbal drinks locally, if you ask them the dosage, they will tell you that you can take as much quantity as you want because it is a natural product, which is not correct.
”Every drug has its lethal dose at which the effect will now become negative instead of positive.
“So, the implication is that the herbalist, to say, may not have determined the lethal dosage at which it will become a problem to the human kidney, liver or other essential organs.
“This is because, for every drug, the transformation takes place in the liver. At the end of the day, if the chemical content in that substance becomes higher than what the liver can transform, it will become an issue.
”So the problem is that they have not been able to actually determine the right dosage to be taken, which of course determines the bioavailability in the human system.
“In essence the challenge lies in the bioavailability and dosage determination, which may harm the liver and the kidney.”
News
Invoke executive order for state, LG police, Afenifere tells Tinubu
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, on Saturday, urged President Bola Tinubu to invoke an Executive Order for the establishment of state and local government Police.
Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi,in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, also called for the erection of close-circuit television sets and deployment of modern technology for security purposes in strategic locations to end insecurity.
Ajayi said, “There are indications that Tinubu is desirous of putting an end to this deleterious menace. Towards the end of January this year, he approved the procurement of digital tracking tools to enhance the apprehension of bandits, terrorists and armed robbers.
“On Monday, April 22, this year, he used the occasion of addressing participants at the African Counter-Terrorism Summit which opened on that day in Abuja to assure everyone of his government’s readiness to ensure greater security. Unfortunately, recent happenings have not shown that the President’s desire in this respect is being worked upon.
“President Tinubu should get state and local government police off the ground immediately through the invocation of an Executive Order while the process of amending the Constitution continues.
“Close circuit television sets, deployment of modern technology for security purposes including drones must be effected immediately.”
He explained that the statement was motivated by the recent reports of banditry and kidnapping in Ogun, Edo, Ekiti, Oyo, Kogi, Zamfara and Niger States, respectively which made a research organization declare Nigeria as one of the top nations where kidnap ranks highest globally.
Ajayi noted that Fulani herders and farmers’ clashes kept occurring in Osun, Ondo and Oyo State; Otu, Igbeti and Alaga in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State were the latest victims.
The Afenifere spokesperson also said, “In order to end insecurity, enhance people’s welfare and ensure the sustenance of Nigeria as one of the top investment destinations in Africa as desired by the government, there is the urgent need by the Federal Government and security agencies to be more innovative and decisive.”
He lamented that banditry, including armed robbery, kidnapping was still occurring on South-West roads such as Lagos-Ibadan, Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode; Akure-Ilesa-Ibadan; Ore-Ijebu Ode-Lagos, Ikirun-Osogbo-Ilesa; Lokoja-Abuja, Owo-Benin and Ibadan-Iseyin-Saki.
“Latest reports have it that on Monday, May 13 instant, eight cocoa farmers were kidnapped at Marindoti Cocoa Farmers’ settlement in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State. Three students of Millicent Secondary School in the same area on their way to write their Senior Secondary School Examination, were also kidnapped at the same time.
“A sum of N31 million was reportedly paid to ransom three people who were kidnapped at Longe village on Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Road last week Sunday. On Thursday, May 16, one Seliat Adeniji (nee Raji) was kidnapped in her Ebedi home in Iseyin, Oyo State. Her guard was killed in the process.
“Hon Bello Hassan representing Zurmi/Shinkafi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives last Tuesday claimed that terrorists have sacked about 50 communities and abducted over 500 people in his area of Zamfara State as bandits overran Zurmi, the second most populous town in the state killing palace officers as well as policemen.”
To put a serious check on all these, the Afenifere spokesman said that there was an urgent need to dig deep into the roots of the menace and to be decisive in applying the necessary measures.
News
NAFDAC shuts cosmetic shops in Lagos, seizes counterfeit products
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has shut three shops and raided others during a clampdown on the sale of unregistered “Dr. Teal’s” brand of cosmetics in Lagos State.
The agency disclosed this in a post on its X handle on Saturday, stating that the action came after a complaint from the trademark holder.
The statement read, “NAFDAC has shut down three cosmetics shops and raided others, targeting the sale of unregistered ‘Dr. Teal’s’ brand cosmetics. This action follows a complaint from the trademark holder regarding potential counterfeit products.
“Two suspected shops along Excellent Line at the Trade Fair Complex were targeted, resulting in sealed shops and invitation letters issued to attendants.”
It added that another development unfolded at Okas Global Link Limited where NAFDAC confiscated over 200 cartons of various Dr. Teal’s products and other unregistered cosmetics, suspecting them to be the source of distribution.
A shop identified as Cubana Stores at Phil Hallmark Plaza was also reported to have been sealed for stocking and selling the moisturising body and bath products of the alleged unregistered Dr. Teal’s brand.
NAFDAC added that according to its regulations, shop owners found guilty of selling unregistered products face penalties of up to ₦5m fine.
It said shop owners were also being questioned as part of ongoing investigations.
In the statement, the agency emphasised the health risks associated with fake cosmetics, stating the potential dangers of using products containing harmful substances.
News
Traders, soldiers clash at Banex Plaza in Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has deployed intelligence officers to Banex – an electronics and telecommunications gadgets market, in Abuja following a conflict that ensued between soldiers and some traders on Saturday.
A viral video seen by our correspondent on X on Saturday showed a multitude of civilians overpowering some soldiers during a free-for-all fight at Banex.
The Defence Headquarters, and the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Onyema Nwachukwu could not be reached for comments as of press time.
Meanwhile, a trader who simply identified himself as Abdul, told our correspondent on Saturday that the conflict ensued over the sale of a mobile phone.
“There’s a problem at Banex now. Some soldiers came to complain about a phone, and during an argument with the traders, a fight ensued,” Abdul simply revealed.
When contacted over the development, the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh said the Commissioner of Police, Benett Igweh has deployed officers of the FCT Intelligence Response Team to the scene of the incident.
“The CP has deployed the Intelligence Response Team to the scene,” Adeh confirmed.
-
Finance4 months ago
Court orders Sen. Victor Umeh to repay N136m bank debt to AMCON
-
Abuja Update3 months ago
UNDP, FG partnership needed to achieve inclusion, equity- Minister
-
Abuja Update2 months ago
Banks drive stock market performance with N147bn gain
-
capital market2 years ago
Rt.briscoe, FBNH, Others halts negative performance of stock market
-
Submission Guidelines4 months ago
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: POETRY COLUMN-NND
-
Health1 month ago
Capacity training will reduce migration of health workers- NPHCDA
-
Business4 weeks ago
Tingo Group unveils Tingo Electric, Tingo Cola drink at Lagos launch
-
News5 months ago
Oil thieves sponsoring malicious media campaign against Navy – Spokesman