By the end of February 2011, the ban on the importation and sale of second-hand undergarments will take full effect.
The Ghana Standards Board says the health hazards associated with using second-hand underwear is serious, hence the decision to implement the law passed in 1994.
However, many traders are unhappy with the impending proscription because they fear they will be denied their means of livelihood. The GSB remains adamant, explaining that the ban is essential for the nation’s long term public health safety.
Citi News Reporter Juanita Sallah, who visited the Kantamanto Market in Accra where the trade is huge reports that the traders are set against the ban, in spite of the intensive education campaigns carried out.
According to her, the traders are generally concerned about the hardships they could suffer when the directive is implemented. Many argue they have been wearing such undergarments for decades and have not experienced any adverse effects. No reports health problems have also been recieved from customers who have been relying heavily on second hand undergarments.
But the Acting Director of the Inspectorate Division of the Ghana Standards Board, Kofi Nagetey told Citi News such claims are borne out of ignorance.
“A lot of the people who are wearing these undergarments don’t know the diseases that they contract. There is a lot of specific evidence about skin diseases and organisms that cause them and how they can penetrate textiles when they stay in them for a long time”.
“Many people are saying that they are wearing them and they are not dying so why do you have to ban them?’ That is an argument borne out of ignorance. We have what we call risk and if the risk is high we have to manage it and prevent people from contacting these skin diseases by wearing of under panties that you don’t even know who wore it before you are wearing it” he said.
Mr. Nagetey said the GSB would undertake swoops with the security agencies to get rid of used undergarments on the market. He said all consignments of used undergarments would be inspected by the GSB before their release at the various ports and entry points.
He said the board has intensified market surveillance and is also engaging with stakeholders especially the Association of Importers and dealers in used clothing to work together to bring to the barest minimum the importation and clearance of undergarments.
He said Legislative Instrument (LI) 1586 which was passed in 1994 bans the importation, clearance and sale of used undergarments, yet importers have been importing used brassieres, pants, handkerchiefs and singlet.