FDA destroys substandard baby diapers

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has destroyed two 40-footer container loads of substandard baby diapers imported into the country.

The diapers, which were seized from markets, were shredded at Atadeka near Ashaiman in the Kpone Katamanso Municipality in the Greater Accra Region. The Head of the Enforcement Directorate of the FDA, Vigil Edward Prah-Ashun, said the products were retrieved from traders during market surveillance exercises in the region from January till date.

Mr Prah-Ashun recalled a joint statement released in July last year by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the FDA and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) warning the public about the increased importation of unregistered disposable baby diapers into the country.

In that statement, he said, businesses had been given a grace period till December last year to regularise their businesses.  

Surveillance

Mr Prah-Ashun said from January, this year, the regulatory authorities started monitoring the market for such disposable baby diapers and realised there had been an influx of some that did not meet the regulatory, packaging and labelling standards.

The FDA’s Head of Enforcement said as a result of the market surveillance, the FDA seized the consignment of diapers for safe disposal, explaining that the seizures were based on the health implications of using such substandard baby diapers which could endanger the health and well-being of babies and children.

Mr Prah-Ashun said, for instance, a girl-child using any of them could pick up an infection which could develop into cases of infertility in adulthood, while the boys could develop cancer of the testes based on the chemicals used in producing the substandard baby diapers.

He, therefore, urged the public to buy only registered baby diapers properly packaged and labelled and not the loose ones which had been exposed to the vagaries of the weather.
 
Writer’s email:Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh