NAFDAC Declares A Skin-whitening Emergency

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has declared a national emergency about skin bleaching in the nation.

Adeyeye addressed Wednesday in Kano at the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists’ Media Sensitization Workshop on the Risks of Bleaching Creams and Regulatory Control.

She claims that skin bleaching is progressively turning into a health risk and that because 77% of Nigerian women do it, it ought to be stopped.

She said: “According to a 2018 World Health Organization research, 77% of Nigerian women use skin bleaching creme, making it the most common in Africa, compared to 59% of women in Togo, 35% of women in South Africa, and 27% of women in Senegal.

“These alarming data have shown that the bleaching cream problem in Nigeria has escalated to the level of a national health emergency,” the authors write.

She listed some of the negative consequences of bleaching creams, such as cancer, injury to important bodily organs, skin allergies and irritants, burns and rashes, wrinkles, early aging, and slow wound healing.

According to reports, the Federal Government wrote to NAFDAC last year asking for tough action to be taken against the threat via the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.