Category: Health

For how long will the battle rage over whether sachet alcohol can be sold in Nigeria’s motor parks? In less than one month, the ban on the sale of sachet alcohol in motor parks is the second major crack down on soft plastic food packaging. The producers say the ban would cause them about N4 trillion,  harm their business or kill them, and erase about five million jobs. Sachet alcohol is sold not only in motor parks, but everywhere imaginable, and patronised especially by young persons who find in it a cheap means of “highing up” and creating social storms.The government of Lagos State and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) are up in arms against soft plastics food packaging for different reasons. For the government, the trylofoam or “take away” food packs constitute environmental and health nuisance. NAFDAC says alcohol sale in motor parks intoxicates drivers and endangers the life of road users.

The first part of this series pointed out crude petroleum as the origin of plastics and suggested that when they are heated, petroleum residue in them leach into the food and drinks stored in them.  Reference was made to baby feeding bottles, plastic plates and cutlery, water bottles, palm oil and “ogogoro” stored in plastic containers, over-head plastic water storage tanks and plastic pipes buried in the earth, biscuits, sweets, chewing gum, condoms and many more. The bottom line was that these petroleum residues may end up in the blood in the brain and in other organs, causing health havoc, including mental health challenges often mistaken for lunacy or insanity. Many of these conditions are approaching or have arrived at near epidemic proportions, and raising questions about whether a relationship exists between their numbers and the upsurge in plastic consumption.

Since that publication last Thursday,  February 15, 2024, there has been an announcement on a Lagos radio station that air pollution has been associated with an increasing wave of suicide in Nigeria. Air pollutants such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury from the petroleum residues in traffic exhalt must be leading culprits.  In due course, this column will strive to differentiate lunacy from possession, from which many persons  may be suffering. Only few Nigerian neurologists, such as Dr. Abayomi Aiyesimoju and some general practitioners, appreciate the difference. I am acquainted, also, with some psychologists and psychiatrists who understand the conception of possession by earth bound human souls and can deal with it. Better still   is the understanding and healing capacity in Nigeria’s Traditional Medicine (NTM). Last week, I suspected Possession in a criminal act that was announced in a radio news bulletin in Lagos. Somewhere in the country, a motorist drove against the traffic in what we call “ONE-WAY” driving in Nigeria, a serious traffic offence which, in some states, could warrant mental health investigation of the suspect. A traffic policeman stopped the motorist. In the twinkle of an eye, however, the motorist reached out for petrol stored in a plastic container he kept in the vehicle, opened it, poured it on the policeman and then lit a match to set the law enforcer on fire! The Policeman died agonisingly. This was a clear case of Split Personality which  may be more of possession than lunacy and had various variants – some calm, some aggressive, depending on the earth bound soul which may be struggling to take possession of the physical body from the rightful owner. The motorist recognised what he did, and fled. In traditional medicine, the healing therapy for “possession”, which his action resembles, is from the body to the soul “through the right kinds of foods and drinks”to improve blood composition and radiation or voltage, and from the soul to the body for the same purpose through engagements in “positive thinking and joyful activities. (this subject will be addressed in more details in future).

I am sorry for the sachet alcohol market.  It will lose a huge captive customer base in motor parks nationwide. I am sorry for NAFDAC too. It will rid the motor parks of sachet alcohol alright, but can it effectively police all the bus-stops where dislodged sellers of sachet alcohol may now be meeting their customers? This is a serious battle with no end in sight, in my view.

Sachet alcohol is too tempting to give up. It is cheap. It is readily available. The producers of all kinds of alcohol are scrambling over one another in the market with colourful designs and appeal. Passenger bus drivers and bus conductors in Nigeria virtually live on it for stamina to engage their herculean tasks of pursuing “delivery money”, chasing after passengers, beating their competitors, overcoming the Police and other traffic agents and outsmarting the control of their own trade union. Accidents often occur as a result. Policemen on duty, too, may be  high-up on sachet alcohol. Who on a cold night would kiss his wife good-bye and head for the office and, without any pep up, bear arms in pursuit of armed robbers? In the newsroom, only few teetotalers such as Lade Bonuola and  Eluem Emeka Izeze may not have touched the sachet alcohol in their career. In the newsroom, I already knew of the dangers of alcohol in sachets and avoided it. My favourite was  Baileys. I drank it from the bottle. I do not know how Mr. Olumhense, of Night Shift in those days, got to know it was my favorite drink. Night shift was the cooling spot for governors and the high and mighty of the society. I was not a patron,although I lived about 500 meters away. What took me there was Mr. Gbenga Omotosho’s bachelor’s night. I stopped over from work at about 2am for just about an hour or two. Mr. Olumhense filled my table with several of the largest size of Baileys and gave the gate men instruction to not let me out. It was a hilarious night. All the who was who among the spinsters of The Comet newspaper were there. Their Editor was getting married and their Editor- in-Chief was in attendance. They made mow. That night reminded me of my boyhood days. I danced all through the night with the young women in groups, returning to the table only to fill up and return to the dance floor. By 7am, Mr. Olumhense let me go.  I went home, only to bathe, change clothes, get to into the car and drive off to the office. Baileys was also the favourite drink of my wife. Whenever we had a storm and I went to work without saying good bye, I was sure to receive a telephone call early in the evening, announcing that a bottle was chilling in the fridge. That meant she wanted to make up and  a bottle could be downed in the night over sweet nothings.

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Mouth and gum

In the 1980s, I joined the vogue of dental scaling and polishing of teeth. I was warned that I might lose six teeth if I did not fill them up. I stopped the young dentist when I realised he was drilling my teeth, not resurfacing the wear. Mercury is one of the most poisonous heavy metals on earth. Hundreds of millions of us world-wide have it in our mouths. It vaporises especially under heat. Who does not eat hot food or drink hot tea? A German conference exposed the dental industry swindle, and many patients sued their dentists. Medicine immediately switched over to Plastic Amalgams only to discover this is no better either. Vaporisation affects the gum and may visit the eyes. Thus, life-long Detoxification may be the answer to Gingivitis and Pyhorea (tofoth inflammation) and gum disease. Imagine a war in the teeth, root canals and gums to which toxins from Take-Aways are added!

This reminds me of Dr. Fafure, a Medical Laboratory Technologist who brought to the table a few decades ago, a proprietary product called Papiteeth. When one of my female colleagues was to undergo root canal surgery for ailing teeth but had no money and was scouting for herbal remedies, I told her the one I had expired five years before then. She took it and used it and had no need for the surgery.  I, too, need Papiteeth today, but  cannot find Doctor Fafure, a fellow  member of the National Council of Physicians of Natural Medicine (NCPNM) . 

Esophagus

The rate of esophageal cancer is growing. The causes may be different from those of other cancers, central to which must be free radicals, toxins, acidosis and fungi among others. I remember, two persons, Mrs. Florence Fusi, 57, and a Personal Assistant to Babatunde Fashola as Governor of Lagos State. Mrs. Fusi’s weight had crashed to about 38kg when Simeon Ekor, introduced her to me. He would later develop cancer of the foot from which he passed on despite the amputation of the leg from below the knee. Mrs. Fusi could not eat or drink water. Her diagnosis kept indicating esophagitis (inflammation of the esophagus). I told her to ask her doctors to be sincere with her. They wanted to bore a hole from the abdomen to the stomach and insert a plastic tube through which she could feed  liquefied food. They said if she could make 80kg, they would remove bad portions of the esophagus and replace it with a healthy portion of her intestine. She objected. I persuaded her to agree. Her meals were well chosen to include easily assimilable proteins and bone marrow meals which we obtained from New Zealand. Her weight hit 70kg, but cancer cells may have dropped into the stomach to cause such excruciating pain which led to chemotherapy from which she passed on. I suspect the plastic tube insert worsened the pain. The stomach must have considered it something to be digested and over produced hydrochloric acid and enzymes necessary for this purpose.  The gentleman was luckier. He was thin and often wore three tops for cold. He was seeing doctors in England and helping himself with nutritional supplements in Lagos. His favourites were Calamus Root, Wheatgrass, Graviola,  SlipperyElm, Vitamin  C, Spirulina, etc. I was in the office of my neighbour, Mrs. Bukola  Azeez, CEO of  Budget Travel, when he came on a visit one day. I did not recognise him. He wore a beautiful suit and had filled out. I had to be re-introduced to him!  Some colon cancer patients do not make it, despite complete nutrition changes and Alkalisation.

The liver

This is the most important organ for detoxification in the body. It is now known that no cancer can take root anywhere in the body if the liver functions optimally. All toxins pass through it to be broken down.

It must be protected to do this job well. Researchers did a good job in their studies of Hepa-protectives (liver-protecting substances). In some experiments, three groups of animals were fed with Carbon Tetrachloride, a terrible liver-damaging chemical. The first group was unprotected. All animals in the group died. The second group was fed the poison and mikthistle,liver protecting herb. simultaneously, the second group was fed the poison a Milk Thistle, a liver-protecting herb. They fell ill but not many died. In the third group, which was on Milk Thistle before they were fed the poison, none of the animals died. Milk Thistle won its reputation as a Hepa-protective.

Many persons who are exposed to petroleum and other toxins in take-away food packaging and other plastic poisoning do not know about Milk Thistle and do not regularly protect their liver against any form of danger. Thus, the liver may function sub-normally and, over a period of time, toxins which escape detoxification may aggregate in weak organs and cause havoc. The havoc is often seen in endocrine glands.

We now know of many Hepa-protectives, including Jerusalem Artichoke, Carqueja, Dandelion, Burdock root and Maria Treben’s  Swedish Bitters.

Thaumatococcus Danielli

 This is a great hepa-protective leaf in which many Africans cooked their food or wrapped them for hundreds of years before the advent of soft plastics in food packaging. This is the great, old healing leaf our forebears in Nigeria cooked and ate Agidi (Igbo) eko (Yoruba) moin- moin or Oole (Yoruba) and fufu. I did not know it had medicinal value until I had my last child at Duro Solaye Hospital on Allen Avenue Ikeja in Lagos.

  My children came with neonatal jaundice. In this condition, the baby’s liver was too weak to clear the yellow factor, Bilirubin, in the blood as red blood cells break down. Over the years, I had known how to help the baby through the mother’s breast milk.  I remove from her bed side cupboard all carbonated drinks with sugar in them.  I dodged the ever watchful eyes of that great Paedetrician,  Dr. Egejuru, and  the nurses to give my wife liver-strengthening herbs which she would pass through breast milk to the baby. The drinks were well diluted for baby tolerance. Three beds away was a woman whose baby had three exchange blood transfusions (EBTs). That meant the baby’s  polluted blood was substantially removed and replaced with cleaner blood.  I couldn’t help her out because we were in a hospital environment where only the doctor’s protocols could be used without queries. She sought the discharge of her baby. To everyone’s surprise and joy, her baby made the first antenatal clinic, one of the most robust. What happened? In her village, Epe, the elders boiled Thaumatococcus  Daniellii leaf   for the baby to drink and for bathing. The yellowing all over the body cleared. I did not pay serious attention to this information for years, but gave it some thought only if I heard of a sickle cell challenged person in crisis, especially when jaundice had set in and the liver was inflamed and painful. I told them to do what this woman did, and they returned to thank me. About five years ago, I researched Thaumatococcus Daniellii and had a shocker. It was a liver-protecting leaf which helps even alcohol-damaged livers to recover.  It was used for food packaging not only in Nigeria but in several African countries as well. Our forebears were wise. They worked with Mother Nature. We are foolish because we depend only on the intellect which is limited to space and time. Otherwise, how could we have been eating toxins in plastic with food while we have medicinal leaf for food wrapping at our beck and call. Thanks to Mrs. Comfort Obayuana, a.k.a Madam flower of health ways, who helped me to make the first powder products of this leaf.

Today, Nena Uche is no longer with us for her to see how the copy which challenged her cub reporter investigative Journalism skills had finally seen the light of day. Nothing is lost in CREATION. Every thought, word (spoken or written) and deed is a seed which sprouts, germinates, flowers and bears fruits in the fullness of time.

The intestine

Colon cancer is almost as common nowadays as breast and prostate gland cancers. The intestine, especially the colon, is about the most punished of the organs by toxins. It is therefore, not surprising that Mother Nature devotes between 70-75 percent immune energy to this region. To help the intestine, the liver must be helped to produce enough bile to mop up soluble poisons and possess soluble and insoluble fiber to help flush them out. A fiber-free diet may encourage accumulation of toxins in the colon. Green leafy vegetables are a  good source of fiber. My favourites are Slippery Elm, Chia Seed, Oregano Leaf, Pawpaw Leaf, Water Leaf, Orange Peel, Banana Peel, Plantain Peel, Baob Leaf and Flak Seeds.

Battle cry

Weaning a baby off breast milk can be a difficult task. That is why the Take-away business sector is up in arms against the ban, asking for more time and sentimentally warning about job losses. Have the business leaders in this sector wondered if their profits are causing cancer deaths? Are they saying some more persons should die while they wind up their businesses? Can they not accept business as a risk? They had it good while public ignorance lasted. I am told China produced Take-aways for the Nigerian market. In the 1990s, I was aware that China objected to Aluminium Foil package for food and developed a bio-degradable option from the cover of maize, which is thrown away in Nigeria. There are wise Nigerians, who grind them into powder and use as fertiliser for crops. We have 29 research institutes in Nigeria. It is surprising that none of them has come up with how the maize covers can be utilised.

Intestinal problems can be difficult to deal with because they may end up as cancers. Nevertheless, there are several herbs which may offer useful therapy if trouble comes. Among them are Slippery Elm, Psylum Husk, Chia Seed, Calamus Root,  Pau’ d’Arco, Cayenne Pepper and Bitter Leaf.