Commission cautions Abia residents against purchasing disinfectant sold as antibiotics
Mr Chidi Nnabugwu, Chairman, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in Abia has warned residents of the state not to purchase a disinfectant in circulation sold to people as antibiotics.
The chairman disclosed this in Aba on Tuesday.
He urged people to stop buying drug-related products from persons claiming to be treating infections if such products were not certified by relevant agencies.
Nnabugwu said that buying such products from uncertified persons could expose people to ingesting poisonous chemicals not meant for human consumption which could cause cancer or other deadly diseases.
“If I tell you what we are seeing here, you will be shocked. For instance, there is a foreign disinfectant that is meant to clean ceramics, plates, cups, sinks, tiles and toilets.
“But some persons here are selling it to unsuspecting public and telling their fellow human beings to mix it with water and drink, that it is capable of killing all kinds of bacteria.
“They never told people the product they repackaged and are selling to them in smaller containers as foreign bacteria medicine is actually a toilet cleaning disinfectant,’’ he said.
He, therefore, urged people who were in the habit of buying drug-related products from uncertified persons to desist from such to avoid buying death with their money.
Nnabugwu said FCCPC staff also caught people in Aba mixing cement with some other powdery substances and reducing the size of the bags in collaboration with some company representatives.
He alleged that such people took cement bags from the companies producing them and then mix with powdery substances and re-bag while stocking them with original bags to avoid easy detection.
The chairman urged builders to intervene to see how the criminal act could be stopped to reduce collapse of buildings arising from such.
He maintained that some persons were also caught mixing crates of beer and minerals from the producing companies with adulterated ones in collaboration with some staff and agents of the companies.
He said there was need to increase the punishment for fakers because of the danger they posed to human lives.
Nnabugwu called on Nigerians to be watchful and collaborate with the commission and volunteer information to FCCPC to flush out such people.
He said it was the duty of every Nigerian to help make the environment safe for all and charged people who knew fakers to give FCCPC office information that could lead to stopping them.
