Weekly Trust (Abuja)
Onimisi Alao
4 September 2007
Kaduna — The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) recently announced the ban of all foreign-made toothpaste brands, particularly the Colgate from China and all other brands from that country and by extension all countries outside Nigeria.
"Only made-in-Nigeria toothpaste registered by NAFDAC is safe for public use," Dora Akunyili, the Director General of the agency said.
The agency had issued a public statement earlier in the month warning of potentially poisonous foreign toothpaste brands not registered by it but smuggled into the country.
"NAFDAC wishes to bring to the attention of the public that no foreign toothpaste is registered by NAFDAC and as such, their quality and safety cannot be guaranteed. The dangerous toothpaste includes those manufactured in China and all brands of Colgate toothpaste," the agency said.
The defaulting Colgate is said to contain an anti-freezing agent, Diethyline Glycol (DEG), said to be injurious to health. The NAFDAC would not mention any other brand. It prefers instead to emphasize that it has not certified any toothpaste brought into the country from abroad.
Akunyili said China and India are the sources of most counterfeit drugs and related products entering the country. Recent reports indicated influx of contaminated foods, drugs, cosmetics, and toys into countries around the world from China.
The DEG has often been loaded into consumer products by counterfeiters who make profit by substituting it for the safe but more expensive glycerine commonly added to drugs, foods and toothpaste for use in cold temperate countries.
It is poison in Nigeria which does not have that kind of weather. The NAFDAC says it predisposes Nigerians to nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, kidney and liver damage, and possibly death. Consumption of illegally imported toothpaste, it adds, may have contributed to rising cases of liver and kidney damage in the country.
Even in countries where diethylene glycol may not produce tragic results, it is by no means a desirable alternative. The substance is meant to keep car engine warm during winter and is, therefore, more likely to be found in car marts and mechanic workshops.
It may be a trying time for all who make their millions on foreign exchange from importation of counterfeit toothpaste, and possibly users who have grown used to the banned products despite the risk to health, but rising against it has come as one of those things for the NAFDAC which fights daring wars against counterfeit consumer goods almost daily.
NAFDAC started operations on January 1, 1994 on the strength of Decree 19 of 1993 which empowers it to regulate the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of drugs, medical devices, food, cosmetics, chemicals, detergents and all drinks including bottled and packaged water-all of them described as NAFDAC regulated products.
The first few years of NAFDAC were largely uneventful owing to half-hearted enforcement of its mandate. It took the coming of Akunyili in 2001 for the agency to wake up to its tasks.
"Due to weak enforcement, only few products were certified and registered before April 2001, resulting in a situation where over 50 per cent of drugs sold in the country were not registered and therefore had no NAFDAC registration numbers printed on their packages," Akunyili recalled. "Ever since then, we have ensured that registration processes were expedited with the result that from April 2001 to April 2003, more than 6,300 products had been registered."
Strict adherence to the rules, including those for registration of products, attracted much hatred to the NAFDAC boss from those who were previously feeding fat on counterfeit products.
By the way, counterfeit or fake products, by the definition of NAFDAC, include drugs with banned ingredients, and drugs not registered by it, such as the Colgate toothpaste.
Fake drugs, Akunyili will always say, are bad news. She has often had to say, "Fake drug trade is the worst aspect of corruption because it affects life directly. Money can be regenerated, but life cannot be recreated. Counterfeiting of medicine is the worst atrocities of our time. It is also a form of terrorism against public health as well as economic sabotage. It is mass murder..." Driven by a passion to fight the atrocities, she has frequently placed her life on the line, and got close to losing it in 2003 when suspected counterfeiters allegedly sent assassins after her.
In June this year, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials disclosed that it was recalling five-ounce tubes of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste being sold in discount stores suspected to contain a poisonous chemical
Few days after, the Colgate-Palmolive Company said five-ounce tubes of counterfeit toothpaste sold in discount stores in four states under a Colgate label were recalled because they might contain a poisonous chemical.
The FDA officials said that testing had found the chemical in a product with the Colgate label, but said in the initial announcement that the FDA was unsure whether it really was Colgate or a counterfeit.
"We are aware that toothpaste is something that's been counterfeited in the past," he said. "We don't want to alarm people unnecessarily," FDA said.
The Colgate Company said the toothpaste, imported from South Africa, was sold in discount stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
"Made in South Africa" is printed on the box and includes Regular, Gel, Triple and Herbal versions.
The trading company said the problem was discovered in routine testing by the Food and Drug Administration. It said no illnesses have been reported to date.
Counterfeit tubes
The same chemical has led to the recall of several brands of toothpaste imported from China in recent weeks.
But the company maintained that it does not use, nor has ever used, diethylene glycol as an ingredient in Colgate toothpaste anywhere in the world.
"Colgate does not import toothpaste into the United States from South Africa," said the statement from Colgate-Palmolive. "In addition, the counterfeit packages examined so far have several misspellings including: 'isclinically,' 'SOUTH AFRLCA' and 'South African Dental Assoxiation.
"Counterfeit toothpaste is not manufactured or distributed by Colgate and has no connection with the company whatsoever," the company said, adding that Colgate is working closely with the FDA "to help to identify those responsible for the counterfeit product."
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