The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has announced the ban on sale of Sniper and other brands of agricultural formulations of Dichlorvos.
The ban followed the increasing use of the products for suicide by Nigerians.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, said that from September 1, 2019, Sniper and other related products would not be sold in supermarkets and in the open markets.
The statement read in part, “NAFDAC is giving a two-month (up to August 31, 2019) notice to brand owners/distributors to recall and withdraw their products from open markets and supermarkets that do not have garden corner/shelves to the agro dealer outlets.
“The sale of Sniper insecticide and other Dichlorvos brands in open markets and supermarkets nationwide is prohibited with effect from September 1, 2019. NAFDAC is giving a six-month moratorium up to January 1, 2020 for brand owners to exhaust the products that are in various accredited agro-input dealers (distributors/marketers/retailers) outlets.”
Meanwhile, the statement, said the agency has ordered the mandatory listing of dealers, distributors, marketers and retailers of agrochemicals, saying all its formations to collect the list to ensure continual monitoring of all agro dealers in their states.
Furthermore, the agency said CropLife Nigeria, in collaboration with NAFDAC, had agreed to provide antidotes against Dichlorvos poison in tertiary and secondary medical centres across the country as well as the reformulation of all Dichlorvos preparation to include “bitter agents and vomiting induced agents.”
The statement said the importation and manufacture of the 100ml size of agricultural formulations of Dichlorvos has been banned with immediate effect while the hawking of all agrochemical formulations was prohibited.
