There is a serious crisis on our hands as a nation beyond insecurity, high fuel prices and poor power supply. It is the danger posed by merchants of deaths that specialise in producing fakes. There is absolutely nothing that these unscrupulous persons cannot fake to make money at the expense of people’s health.
Wherever you turn, whether a supermarket, pharmacy, roadside stall, or market, they are there staring you in the face. There are fake medicines that will, instead of healing the sick, end up causing more harm. There is fake toothpaste, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, food products, cosmetics, supplements, baby products, and other household items. I saw a trending video of some men stamping some cartons. They were said to be producing counterfeits of a popular television brand. I have also seen videos of those said to be brewing fake drinks ranging from malt to alcoholic beverages in very unhygienic environments.
The frightening aspect is that many of these products are deliberately packaged to look genuine. A consumer may therefore have no idea that what he or she is putting into the mouth, applying to the body, or giving to a child is not what it claims to be.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has been issuing alerts and recalls involving substandard, falsified and unregistered products, but whether it is doing enough is another issue entirely. The agency’s legal framework prohibits the manufacture, sale, and distribution of counterfeit, adulterated, banned, fake, substandard, or expired drugs and unwholesome processed foods. To me, this means that the problem is serious enough to have specific laws addressing it. The question then is, why does this illicit trade continue to flourish?
