- Dangerous Chemicals Making Food Products Unfit For Human Consumption — Osinbajo
- NAFDAC, SON, Others Need To Wake Up — Medic
Nigerians have raised fresh concerns over the safety of food, drugs, cosmetics and other consumer products in the country amid growing public anxiety over cancer and other serious illnesses.
NAIJAONPOINT reports that concerns have gained momentum following the recent death of veteran Nollywood actor, Taiwo Hassan, popularly known as Ogogo, who died at 66 after battling stage-four cancer.
Ogogo’s death on August 23 came days after his family disclosed his condition, triggering an outpouring of grief and renewed discussions about the increasing number of Nigerians, including prominent personalities, battling cancer.
The death has also prompted questions on social media about possible environmental and lifestyle factors behind the country’s cancer burden, including the quality of food and consumer products available in the market.
However, medical experts have cautioned against directly linking individual cancer deaths to fake or contaminated products without scientific evidence.
The concern over product safety is nevertheless backed by documented cases of counterfeit and substandard products in the Nigerian market.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has repeatedly raised alerts over fake medicines and other regulated products, while the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has also acknowledged the persistent problem of substandard products.
The latest concern followed an admission by former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that laboratory testing found his wife’s freshly squeezed orange juice “not fit for human consumption”.
Osinbajo made the disclosure at the Open Day for Gardeners’ Seminar themed, “Leaving the Earth Better Than We Found It”, held in Lagos on August 28.
According to him, his wife, Dolapo, had begun experiencing unexplained headaches after making freshly squeezed orange juice a daily alternative to carbonated drinks.
He said a sample of the juice was subsequently sent to a laboratory for testing.
“The results came back. It showed the orange juice, freshly squeezed, was not fit for human consumption. This is freshly squeezed orange juice. Not fit for human consumption,” Osinbajo said.
He said the experience highlighted the danger of assuming that fresh or natural products were automatically safe.
Osinbajo also raised concern over the use of dangerous chemicals by some farmers and fruit sellers to ripen and preserve produce.
He specifically mentioned calcium carbide, while also referring to other substances which he said were being used on fruits and vegetables.
“The fact that fruit looks fresh doesn’t mean that it is safe, and the fact that a drink is natural doesn’t mean that something dangerous has not been added to it along the way, especially along the journey from the farm to the table,” he said.
The former Vice-President cited studies which he said had documented the use of chemicals among some fruit sellers in different parts of the country.
He said a 2024 study in Ado-Ekiti found that 50 per cent of 20 fruit sellers interviewed admitted using calcium carbide, while another study in Uyo reportedly found that 25 per cent of sellers admitted using the substance.
The former Vice President further cited a 2023 survey of 50 fruit and vegetable retailers in Lagos, saying 22 admitted using chemicals to preserve their produce.
NAIJAONPOINT gathered that the development has intensified calls for NAFDAC, SON and other relevant agencies to strengthen surveillance and enforcement.
A medical practitioner, Dr. Suleiman Akin, said the growing circulation of fake and substandard products should be treated as a public health emergency.
Akin said exposure to toxic chemicals through contaminated food, medicines, cosmetics and other products could cause serious health problems, including damage to vital organs.
He, however, stressed that cancer was a complex disease and that it would be medically inaccurate to attribute every cancer death to fake products.
“Cancer does not have one single cause. It develops through a combination of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors,” he said.
According to him, the presence of carcinogenic or toxic substances in the food chain remained a legitimate concern, particularly where exposure was repeated over a long period.
He called for stronger laboratory surveillance of food and consumer products, as well as greater transparency whenever dangerous substances were detected.
He urged the government to improve laboratory capacity, strengthen border and market surveillance, prosecute offenders and make it easier for consumers to verify the authenticity of products.
Akin also advised Nigerians to purchase food, medicines and personal-care products from reputable outlets and to report suspicious products to regulatory authorities.
“NAFDAC, SON and the other regulatory agencies need to wake up. Surveillance should not only happen after a product has gone viral on social media. Products should be randomly sampled, tested and traced before they cause widespread harm,” Akin said.
His position is consistent with the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s position that several cancers are associated with preventable environmental and lifestyle risk factors.
The WHO says cancer can be caused by genetic, physical, chemical and biological factors, while tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, obesity, air pollution and certain infections are among established risk factors.
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
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