FDB alerts public on counterfeit and unregistered sanitary pads and

other products

Accra, May 2, GNA-The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) on Friday said there were some unregistered sanitary pads circulating on the Ghanaian market and therefore could not guarantee its quality and safety since they have not been registered with the Board. The sanitary pads, "All One, Smart Lady and All Easy" have the resemblance of a registered brand by name "Forever Easy", which has the same colour markings as pink, green and yellow.

Briefing the Media in Accra, Reverend Jonathan Martey, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Board in-charge of Drugs said before products manufactured locally and imported ones were authorised to be placed on the market such products should be sent to FDB to be taken through vigorous tests to ensure its safety, quality and efficacy for the protection of the public health. "The Board is therefore advising the general public not to patronise any of the brands named above" and further advised the public to report to the Board or the Ghana Police anyone found distributing or retailing these products".

Rev. Martey said there were other similar products such as Accurate, a pregnancy testing kit; Medical toothpaste and Teeder baby syrup for babies with teething problems, which also had counterfeit ones on the market. He explained that with Accurate and Medical toothpaste, the counterfeit ones had the same colour markings and inscriptions as the original one but the only difference was that the original one had the FDB registered number on it whilst the counterfeits did not. With the Teeder baby syrup, the counterfeit, which was produced by a Gratia Pharmaceuticals based in Kumasi, had the name "Teether" and urged mothers and the general public to be wary of those products on the markets and advised that people should always look out for the manufacturing and expiring dates, Batch numbers and FDB numbers on every product they would buy.

Rev. Martey noted that various tests ran on the counterfeits products listed above showed that the toothpaste contained DEG, a toxic that was harmful to the kidney, the sanitary pads did not contain the appropriate materials that could absorb fluids and also had some chemicals that could introduce pelvic infection, which would affect the womb. He advised the public to be on the lookout and cultivate the habit of reading inscriptions on every product that they buy.