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Internet slimming pills warning
slim woman
The slimming drugs curb appetite
The illicit availability of appetite suppressant pills online is fuelling a
slimming obsession and putting lives at risk, experts warn.
The United Nations drug control board says a growing number of women desperate
to lose weight are buying these drugs on the Internet.
The warnings come after the death of 21-year-old anorexic Brazilian model Ana
Carolina Reston.
She is believed to have been taking slimming pills and painkillers.
We need to know the size of the problem in the UK
Professor Hamad Ghodse, former president of the INCB
The UN 's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) calls for stricter
enforcement of control measures and public education campaigns about the risks
from the misuse of prescription drugs, including painkillers and
tranquillisers.
Their abuse has already outstripped that of heroin and cocaine in some parts of
the world, says its report.
President of the INCB, Dr Philip Emafo explained that appetite suppressant
drugs, also known as anorectics, have a use in the treatment of
life-threatening obesity when prescribed and monitored by doctors.
"However, they are instead being used indiscriminately to feed the slimming
obsession that affects some societies."
Growing trade
The scale of the problem is not clear.
Last year, a study found more than half of 1,230 UK women surveyed by
Closerdiets.com admitted using slimming pills.
There are 14 different appetite suppressants that have been developed to treat
obesity and other conditions, including attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder and narcolepsy.
Professor Hamad Ghodse, former president of the INCB and chairman of addiction
psychiatry at London's St George's Hospital, said: "We need to know the size of
the problem in the UK.
"We think probably in the UK there are adequate regulations in place, but there
needs to be the implementation of these regulations."
Dr Emafo said: "It is important for consumers to realise that what they think
is a cut-price medication bought on an unregulated market may however have
potentially lethal effects whenever the consumed drugs are not the genuine
product or are taken without medical advice.
"Instead of healing, they can take lives."
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the global
availability of counterfeit medicine had increased in recent years, through
unregulated web sites operating on the internet.
A spokesman said that in the past 12 month, the MHRA had taken action against
30 web sites illegally supplying medicines, including counterfeits.