Soft Poison?

•The Fanta and Sprite controversies are a hint of how regulators fail when companies are negligent

If Nigerian businessman, Mr. Fijabi Adebo’s, attempt to export soft drinks manufactured and sold to him by the Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC), to the United Kingdom in 2007 had not hit a brick wall in that country, would Nigerians have the kind of popular awareness they do today as regards the health risks posed by these products widely consumed in the country? It is unlikely. Mr. Adebo’s failed business venture nine years ago has, as it were, redounded to the benefit of his countrymen and women in the long run. For, the beverages were seized by the UK Customs and later destroyed after being certified unsafe for human consumption by that country’s health authorities. Mr. Adebo then dragged the NBC to court resulting in a protracted legal tussle that culminated in a historic verdict this month.

In his judgement, Justice Adedayo Oyebanji of the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, found that consumers of some of Coca-Cola’s soft drink brands face serious health risks when the high levels of benzoic acid and additives in these products are consumed along with ascorbic acid, popularly known as vitamin C. The judge consequently ordered the NBC henceforth to place health warning labels on the drinks informing consumers of the dangers of drinking them with Vitamin C.

It is unfortunate that it had to take a prolonged legal battle and a court decision for the attention of the appropriate regulatory agency to be drawn to its statutory responsibility of safeguarding the health and safety of the Nigerian consumer. We can thus understand why Justice Oyebanji was justifiably unsparing of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC), under whose purview this specific case falls. In his words, “It is manifest that NAFDAC has been grossly irresponsible in its regulatory duties to the consumers of Fanta and Sprite manufactured by Nigerian Bottling Company…NAFDAC has failed the citizens of this great nation by its certification as satisfactory for human consumption products…which become poisonous in the presence of Vitamin C”. For its failure to ensure proper health standards, the regulatory agency was fined the equivalent of $6, 350 (5,515 pounds).

Of course, no amount of monetary sanction can compensate for or remedy the damage that may have been done to millions of innocent consumers of these products. Is it impossible, for instance, that there is a link between the consumption of a wide range of substandard products due to weak regulation and the rising cases of liver, kidney and other deadly diseases among Nigerians? This brings to the fore, once again, the need for the proper funding and equipping of critical regulatory agencies and ensuring that they have the right quality of staff who have the opportunity of continuously enhancing their expertise. It will be useful to know, for example, if NAFDAC, in this case, has the requisite laboratory and other facilities to test for Fanta and Sprite.

It is instructive that one of the arguments of NBC lawyers during the proceedings was that the items in question were not intended for export, a defense emphatically rejected by the judge who declared that products manufactured for the Nigerian market ought to be fit for human consumption anywhere. This is an indication of the poor valuation we place on human life in Nigeria. In what can only be considered a tepid response, the Nigerian Ministry of Health reassured Nigerians that the soft drinks are safe for human consumption but advised Nigerians to take medicine with potable water to “help prevent unexpected drug-food interactions”. The Ministry also ‘encouraged’ all bottling companies to “insert advisory warning” on all products as necessary. Without this historic case, would the health authorities have issued this advisory to ensure Nigerians do not mistake soft poison for soft drinks?