NAFDAC officially places ban on sniper

Following rampant suicide reports relating to Sniper, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday announced its ban of the sale of Sniper and other brands of agricultural formulations of Dichlorvos.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, said this in a statement, noting 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.”

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The agency said CropLife Nigeria, in collaboration with NAFDAC, had agreed to provide antidotes against Dichlorvos poisoning in tertiary and secondary medical centres across Nigeria, as well as the reformulation of all Dichlorvos preparation to include “bitter agents and vomiting induced agents.”

It banned the importation and manufacture of 100ml pack size of agricultural formulations of Dichlorvos with immediate effect while the hawking of all agrochemical formulations were also prohibited.

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