Ban Monsodium Glutamate in Ghana!!!

The effects are known but regulators are silent and blame consumer advocates and consumers for keeping quiet and product misuse respectively. On air yesternight, 23rd April 2009 at 9pm on TV Africa 'Oman Yi Mu  Nsem' the host, Adakabre blamed Consumer Advocates for their silence and did not leave out the standards and regulatory agencies for their lack of consumer education on critical consumer safety issues.

 

Representing the consumer front, Jean Lukaz, the Executive Director of the Consumer Partnership (The COP) corrected some of the misperceptions surrounding consumer advocacy in Ghana, 'People tend to blame consumer advocates and activists but forget to realise that they also have responsibilities as consumers', he said. Jean Lukaz confronted the host, Adakabre as to whether he has ever taken a sample of some soup prepared by a chop bar [local/ethnic restaurant] to the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) for testing as he had personnaly suffered injury from consuming the product as a result of excessive use of monosodium glutamate.

 

Kofi Essel a Director from the FDB reiterated the product misuse mantra and charged Ghanaian Consumers to look out for bad products whilst alerting the regulatory bodies and Consumer Organizations. But the question remains as to how accessible these agencies are..nobody knows their telephone numbers and neither do they have toll free lines. Consumers will not take pains to look for directions to their office in the region of Accra, for example to go through any bureaucracy that will not materialise, it appears. Why can't the FDB and Ghana Standards Board (GSB) have offices in every district and in the commercial areas to make it easier for them to conduct market surveillance and for consumers to recognise their seriousness in getting down on issues?

 

Jean Lukaz further questionned the responsibility of the agencies and the government in disseminating critical Consumer Education (CE) and subsequently the roles of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department.

 

We must reckon  that the laws and regulations in Ghana are in English and over 60% of the population is illiterate. How do they know the laws that govern their rights and responsibilities and how do they read the labels on products on the market to determine their safety for consumption?

 

The Ghana Standards Board (GSB) has been doing their bit with Consumer Education through sensitization workshops and media advocacy. This was disclosed by Prudence Asamoah Bonti, a senior officer of GSB on the program.

 

The GSB has also been involving consumers on their Technical Committees (TCs) as part of the international drive by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Consumer Policy Committee for Developing Countries (DEVCO/COPOLCO) in promoting consumer participation in standardization. The Consumer Partnership has consumer representatives on several TCs and initiated the development of standards for the tourism sector under TC18.

 

The Consumer Partnership is calling on all Ghanaians being affected by the monosodium glutamate menace to get doctor's reports and send us copies for action. It is only by complaining with the proven evidence can we make progress on this. The COP is also starting market surveillance to collect food sample for testing by the FDB and publish the results for a Consumer Hall of Shame.

By Jean Lukaz MIH