More seriousness a must on disposal, use of food, drugs

With the changes, TFDA was renamed Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) while retaining the functions of regulating medicines, medical devices and diagnostics.

It was meanwhile announced that all functions related to the food and cosmetics categories in the country had been shifted to TBS.

TBS would henceforth be responsible for, among other things, receiving and processing all applications for the registration of food and cosmetics made within and outside Tanzania.

It is also the bureau that would inspect all premises dealing with the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of food and cosmetic products, as well as issuing all import and export permits including as relates to the inspection of all the respective products at all ports of entry.

The bureau’s mandate would further cover the registration of premises dealing with manufacturing, slaughtering, wholesaling and retailing food and cosmetic products; and the monitoring and control of food-borne diseases and surveillance over prohibited cosmetics.

Also on the list were the collection of samples of food and cosmetics from the market to ascertain their quality and safety, and the running of public education programmes on the effects of using unsuitable food and harmful cosmetics.

Despite these evidently well-intended changes, many ordinary people know and care precious little about the likes of TFDA and TMDA except after “things have fallen apart” in the sense of someone having flouted the law and the cost of such wrongdoing having shown up.

It was once widely believed that the TFDA of old, as a statutory agency standing as a wing of the then Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children ministry, was often a lot more reactive than proactive in its operations.

But could things have been different, with the agency was only loosely charged with the protection and promotion of public health?

This was supposed to entail ensuring the quality, safety and effectiveness of foodstuffs, medicines, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices.

In going about its duties, it was expected to be the leading regulatory agency in Africa with respect to these responsibilities.

In the particular case of the safety and efficacy of supplies and devices, coverage was supposed to include the evaluation and registration or certification of conventional and herbal human, veterinary, herbal medicines or drugs and vaccines,

Thus, the mounting of crackdowns leading to the closure of supermarkets, mini-supermarkets and drugstores or chemists’ shops found selling fake, expired or otherwise suspicious foodstuffs, medicines or cosmetics was but just a fraction of the much bigger scope of the agency’s role.

In implementing all this there have been times when it seemed to matter little whether the manufacturing, distribution or sales points were legally registered or were effectively an integral part of swelling black market rings.

Previous crackdowns have had reasonably effective impact, although the situation has often degenerated again not so long after the operations were over, with the sale of high-risk medicines, cosmetics and food products soon back in high gear.

The watchdog agency’s efforts have often benefited from support by law-enforcement agents. However, only a few battles have seen indications of victory – and the war is surely far from won.

Considering the complex nature of the market for foodstuffs, medicinal and other drugs as well as cosmetics, it is hardly surprising that law-enforcers have been having a terrible time fighting to ensure that everybody observes the law.

This underscores the need for the citizenry to support agencies like TFDA and TMDA in facilitating the implementation of legally recognised and sanctioned initiatives meant to ensure that Tanzanian society does not fall easy prey to criminal and other anti-social agents and practices.

There are pitch-dark and even open-air points all around us selling all manner of consumables confirmed as or feared to be unfit for human use – among them infant feeds, energy drinks and salt.

All this illustrates the serious risk at which we could be putting public health in our country without getting as disturbed about it as we ought to be. And it is intolerable.