BY BRIGHT JACOB
Rising from a resolution following the consideration of a motion titled “Need to Regulate Online Advertising and Sales of Drugs”, presented by Onofiok Luke at plenary, the House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, to arrest and prosecute unlawful online advertisers of drugs.
The lawmakers also asked NAFDAC to educate the public about the dangers of purchasing unregistered and non prescribed drugs on the internet.
Other bodies called upon by the lawmakers were the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria.
While it enjoined APCON to liaise with social networking giants like Facebook and Twitter, to monitor, control and enforce advertising standards against the advertising and sales of drugs online, it urged the PCN to sanction and prosecute those who engaged in the illegal trade of sales of drugs online without due authorization.
While presenting the motion, Onofiok Luke said, “Given the false, exaggerated media and online advertisement of drugs, members of the public are enticed into buying the drugs ranging from dietary supplements, cholesterol-lowering medicine, analgesics, including tramadol and aspirin to Viagra and other sex enhancement drugs, some of which are unregistered and purchased without a doctor’s prescription or the advice of a pharmacist.”
Continuing, he said the law prohibited the advertisement of drugs or related products without registration and without the advertisement having the pre-clearance and approval of a relevant government agency. He added that the law required that the advertisement of any drug or related product be accurate, complete, clear, and designed to promote credibility and trust by the general public and health practitioners and that drug products, particularly, drugs that may lead to death or severe injury, must have a special safety warning information displayed within a box in the advertisement.
Onofiok listed some of the adverse effects of those drugs which members of the public have complained about.
“Some of the drugs are sold without an indication or warning of the side effects, and members of the public who purchased them have complained of developing symptoms of vomiting, stooling, body weakness, severe body pains, swelling, shortness of breath, fainting, erectile dysfunction among other things, necessitating them to seek medical attention in hospitals.”
