BOARD CLAMPS DOWN ON UNREGISTERED APHRODISIACS (PAGE 27)

THE Food and Drugs Board (FBD) has mounted a post-market surveillance to clamp down on unregistered aphrodisiacs that have flooded the markets.
The exercise has become urgent because of the public health implications of their use for a lot of Ghanaians, especially the youth, who look for drugs that would render them sexually extra-active.
The post-market surveillance would involve swoops by the police and FDB to confiscate the unregistered products, which are on display on the open market.
These aphrodisiacs have glamorous nude pictures of young women and men displaying their genital organs.
According to the FDB, these unregistered products found their way onto the market through unapproved routes while sometimes they were concealed in trucks that plied the approved routes.
Mr Peter Kwasi Agyeman-Dua, head of Drugs Inspectorate of FDB, said these unregistered products claimed to contain Viagra, but on their subjection to tests it was found out that they contained dangerous chemicals.
He said as a result people who took some of these fake aphrodisiacs complained of unusual palpitation of the heart while others had diarrhoea for days.
He said some had even collapsed while having sexual intercourse after taking these drugs through self medication.
Mr Agyeman-Dua said the FDB had also started a process to prosecute chemical shop owners and traders who dealt in those drugs to deter others from engaging in the illegal business.
He said apart from prosecuting offenders, the Board had mounted a campaign to raise public awareness of the dangers associated with the drugs with the aim of curtailing the demand side of the chain.
Mr Agyeman-Dua said drugs for erectal dysfunction had been registered with the Board and these were from well known multinational pharmaceutical companies.
He said so far about 55 Western medicines and herbal mix used to correct rectal dysfunction had been registered with the Board.
Mr Agyeman-Dua said these drugs could only be dispensed after consultations with a qualified doctor and not through self-medication.
Mr Felix Yellu, the outgoing Government Pharmacist, said aphrodisiacs had untoward side effects, some of which could be life threatening.
He said most of them had substances that stimulated the heart, which leads to high blood pressure.