Dr Isuwa Adamu, Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology (NILEST), Zaria, yesterday warned against the consumption of animal hides and skin popularly known as “ponmo”.
Adamu, in an interview with reporters of NAN in Abuja stated that the consumption of the product as meat substitute is injurious to human health. According to him, scientifically, ponmo does not provide the body with any nutritional value whatsoever.
He said, “In fact, it is not advisable for you to consume ponmo in the sense that some of the animals killed and used for ponmo actually have skin diseases.
“Some of these skin diseases are such that boiling them ordinarily, may not kill the bacteria.”
He further mentioned that some of the animals killed were suffering from illness and may have been undergoing injections but the rearers damned the consequences and went ahead to kill them, leaving the buyers vulnerable to chemicals in the animal skin.
According to Adamu, “Some of the animals because of the ailments that they have gone through, are sometimes treated by way of injection with chemicals.
“People don’t allow these chemicals to complete its cycle and be removed from the body; they sometimes go ahead to kill these animals.
“So, if you consume the ponmo, the tendency is that you are consuming the chemicals directly because the skin part of the animal retains most of the harmful substances.
“Remember your skin is the major protective organ of your body and your skin harbours so many of the harmful things that are supposed to penetrate into your body,” he explained.
He maintained that the skin of animals houses so many of the harmful waste materials that the body secretes and boiling only could not remove some of those waste products.
The NILEST boss and leather expert said the institute was trying its best to sensitise the public and advise governments on policies that will help to reduce the consumption of ‘ponmo’ to the barest minimum.
According to him, ponmo consumption is a national and traditional issue that just putting up laws may not really help to stop it.
Adamu admonished the government to draft policies that could be enforced to reduce the consumption of hides and skin as meat substitute.
He added that this would enhance the quality and quantity of raw hides and skin that are available to meet the demands of the tanneries.