There are many sub-standard goods on our market largely as a result of the greed of some importers who connive with regulatory bodies mandated to ensure wholesome products on the market.
Regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the security agencies, port and health authorities, and the Customs Division, as well as destination inspection companies, are under obligation to assist in weeding out shoddy products from the market.
All kinds of fake products, especially medicines, are peddled in the country by quack druggists at the blind side of the FDA.
In the so-called advanced societies no product is put on the market without the date of manufacture, expiry date, country of origin, and if they are food or medicinal products the necessary ingredients are stated in clear terms.
Of late the FDA and the GSA have been clamping down on importers of sub-standard products through seizures and destruction of products so seized.
The Daily Graphic thinks that these two bodies are overwhelmed by the activities of importers in a country with porous borders.
There are, however, issues that the FDA and the GSA must look at critically as the perception out there is that they act only when there is pressure from above and not from a professional point of view.
We acknowledge the successes chalked up by the two bodies but they ought to do more to convince the people that their health will not be jeopardised by patronising products on the market.
The sale of turkey tail, popularly called ‘tsofi’, particularly at Nsawam, when the FDA has stated clearly that the meat is unwholesome, is difficult to comprehend. The FDA must stop the sale of ‘tsofi’ now, otherwise the inaction of the officials will put the health of consumers at risk.
The Daily Graphic has no sympathy for wrongdoers in the society because we descend into the jungle if the regulations do not work.
That is why we may not shed tears for Tobinco Pharmaceuticals that is involved in many corporate social responsibility activities and whose Chief Executive was crowned Marketing Man of the Year 2010.
Tobinco should have been concerned about the health of children in Ghana, who have been used as clinical trial subjects.
Tobinco and Bliss GVS Pharma Limited of India that exported the unregistered anti-malarial medicine for children called Gsunate Plus have apologised but the issues of health are not optional matters.
The Daily Graphic thinks that the explanation by Tobinco that they had submitted the medicine to the FDA for approval is unacceptable because the law requires that the company is given the green light before it sells to the public.
The normal practice is that Tobinco should have waited for approval from the FDA, especially when the medicine in question had not gone through clinical trials.
However, we think that the FDA should look at its internal processes of registration and review of the approval processes sent to it by manufacturers and importers.
We urge the FDA to publicise the rules and regulations governing the registration of products so that people do not hide behind ignorance to do the wrong thing.
The Tobinco saga and others in the past should provide useful lessons for all importers and manufacturers to, as a matter of imperative, respect the rules of our land.
