Accra, Dec. 30, GNA- The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) on Tuesday described as "unfortunate subtle" attempts to make it irrelevant for its specific role as stated by law.

Reacting to positions that the FDB was taking over the role of the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), Mr Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko, Chief Executive of the FDB told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Business Desk that the law establishing the FDB was very clear.

He also debunked allegations that the FDB was using laboratories with no international certification or recognition thereby putting the health of Ghanaians at risk.

"The law mandates the Food and Drugs Board to conduct tests on and approve food and drugs imported into the country. This law, the PNDCL 305D, is unambiguous on the role of the two institutions, giving the responsibility of regulation with the FDB.

"Therefore, I do not see the need for anyone, within or without the Ghana Standards Board to think that we at the Food and Drugs Board are, or want to take their jobs from them."

The FDB "as it stands today does not have ISO certification and is in the process of securing one as well as the WHO proficiency-testing standard.

On the issue of using laboratories with no ISO certification, Mr Agyarko said, "that is not true, just because we do not do all our certification with the GSB."

He said the two institutions recently agreed to a memorandum of understanding on the issues with the hope that the two parties would respect it.

Mr Agyarko said Ghana has no standards of its own and relied heavily on internationally accepted standards, notably the British, International or US Pharmacopoeia for drug certification. "We also deal with the Pharmaceutical and Chemistry Departments of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Food Research Institute (FRI) for food and food products."

He explained that for some solid oral dosages, "the FDB goes beyond the British standard and goes through the US standard too for greater certainty."

The FDB boss was emphatic about the mandate of his outfit saying, "the work of the Ghana Standards Board is to develop standards and not to go about testing. The name is also very clear as per what duty they perform or what role they are to play."

Mr Agyarko explained that in the US for instance, there existed the Food and Drugs Administration, which dealt with food and drug issues and testing items which the National Institute of Science and Technology that sets standards.

"The law determines that one institution cannot be everything at the same time, referee, player and judge."

He said the FDB uses the Food Research Institute ((FRI) of the Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR) because it was the most suitable institution for examination of food and food products, despite the fact that it might not be ISO certified.

"Results from there are the best we can have today," Mr Agyarko noted; but added that, "the GSB itself also does tests elsewhere too, such as the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Scientific Research at the University of Ghana, Legon."

He said the FDB does what it can do and the rest it leaves with those capable of doing it.

He charged the GSB to concentrate on ensuring that among other things it was able to set standards for the wood and furniture industry and the electrical equipment imported into the country conform to standards.

Mr Agyarko said the FDB is in the process of securing ISO certification, but he was quick to add that, " it is not an across the board thing. The ISO is a voluntary club and one can choose to be part of it or not."

"Asked why the FDB is spending about 200,000 dollars to get ISO certification, Mr Agyarko said, " we are doing it for what it was worth."

He said the FDB would soon have its own laboratory in which, " we are investing close to 700,000 dollars".

"The FDB is also importing a 130,000 dollars state of the art condom testing machine from Valendor of Italy, to replace the GSB one which is about 20 years old."