Caution! Here’s Why Your Blood Pressure Bills Could be driving you to an early grave!

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Blood pressure patients in the country are living in fear after reports emerged that despite concerns raised earlier, blood pressure drugs linked to cancer are still on sale!

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board had earlier on cautioned healthcare providers against prescribing hypertension drugs containing Hydrochlorothiazide, a chemical linked to skin cancer.

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According to a research done by Nation Media group on most of the chemists in Nakuru, Nairobi and Mombasa, it was found that Daily hypertensive drugs linked to cancer are still being dispensed in chemists around the country with no warning to the public.

Of the chemists visited, it was discovered that the pills retail at Sh2 to Sh5 in seven pharmacies in Mombasa, five in Nakuru and nine in Nairobi.

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The sellers do not ask for a prescription, or which of the two available dosages — 25mg and 50mg — the patient needs. A patient is expected to stick to the dosage prescribed, unless ordered otherwise by a doctor.

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On January 14, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board posted a statement on its website and shared it with healthcare providers.

It was about hypertension drugs containing hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a chemical linked to skin cancer.

Medicine with the chemical was recalled by the Food and Drug Administration. It said the drugs contained one or both of two organic chemicals: N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA).

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NDMA is a by-product of industrial processes while NDEA is used to make liquid rocket fuel. The latter is also a by-product of pesticide manufacturing.

The World Health Organisation says NDMA is a potent carcinogen. Both are classified as cancer-causing agents.

However, pharmacists do not seem to know what to do since the statement did not offer any guidance.

Mr Elo Mapelu, a long-serving pharmacist, said he stopped dispensing the drugs immediately the statement was issued.

“The circular was in our WhatsApp and Facebook groups,” he said. But three other pharmacists said they only “stumbled on the information early this week”.

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