The government has announced a crackdown on illegal nicotine products and other unauthorised medicines across the country.
Public Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni has called for a massive countrywide crackdown to eradicate illegal nicotine and medicines that are a fast becoming problem in the country.
The Tobacco Control Board in collaboration with the Pharmacy and Poison Board will be in charge of conducting the crackdown.
Speaking in Kerugoya, Muthoni said that so many illegal nicotine and medical products have infiltrated the Kenyan market and ruining Young lives.
“The Tobacco Control Board and Pharmacy and Poison Board will launch a massive crackdown to wipe out all illegal nicotine products such as pouches which are put under the tongue and also electric cigarettes,” she said.
She says that many respiratory and liver ailments and cancer have been attributed to use of non-approved nicotine products which are being sold in the shops, clubs and in chemists.
In August last year, health advocates warned that Kenya faces a resurgence of highly addictive nicotine products that had been banned by the Ministry of Health.
Four civil society groups, which conducted a survey in Nairobi, said none of these products adhere to the Tobacco Control Act and its regulations.
Muthoni says that such products are being sold secretly to school going children by fraudulent traders who hang around schools.
These products often come in appealing flavours, making them enticing to nonsmokers, youth and children.”
She has issued a warning to those selling illegal substances to young Kenyans calling on the two boards to intensify operations and arrest those behind the illicit trade.
National coordinator of the Tobacco Control and Health Alliance Thomas Lindi cited that continued use of this products could lead to nicotine addiction and potential cardiovascular harm.
“Recent studies and evidence have shown that oral nicotine pouches pose serious health risks,” Lindi said.
Muthoni was accompanied by Kirinyaga Central Mp Gachoka Gitari who lauded the move saying it would save the country’s future by saving lives of the youth from the illegal and addictive substances.