The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control on Mondayurged herbal medicine practitioners to document all procedures and ingredients used in the preparation of their herbal products.
Phebean Malomo-Odu, a Deputy Director in NAFDAC, made the appeal when he spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria in Onitsha, Anambra State.
NAN reports that Malomo-Odu is in-charge of Herbal and Neutriceutical Division of Drug Evaluation and Research of the agency.
She said that doing so “would help us (NAFDAC) and people within the localities to easily imbibe the habit of knowing what most roots and herbs around us can do”.
The deputy director said this would encourage generational knowledge transfer and safer health for the upcoming generations.
Malomo-Odu said that herbal medicines of some countries had attained international recognition and acceptance.
She said: “While some Nigerians spend hard currency to purchase these herbal drugs, they forget that we also have some of these herbs and roots around us here wasting.
“So, it is time we start getting it right by our herbal practitioners being more open, especially with documenting and proper labeling of different herbs and roots.”
The deputy director said that NAFDAC was ready to partner with herbal medicine practitioners so that “we will not lose our own indigenous medicines and curative ways.
“My office and other offices in the 36 states and the FCT are open to herbal medicine practitioners.
“And NAFDAC is saying, come and let us fashion ways to make our own herbal medicines more accessible, well formulated and getting it attuned to international best practices as well as packaging.
“I believe, we, Nigerians, have a lot to offer to the world when we get our acts right on traditional medicine production, documentation, clinical trials and packaging.”
Malomo-Odu revealed that the agency had already commenced clinical trials for some herbal drugs in order to be able to verify claims of their efficacy, content and life span of the products.
NAN recalls that NAFDAC had started nationwide sensitisation for all herbal practitioners and other stakeholders to enlighten them on international best practices.