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Dangerous Diet Pills Sold on eBay, Wish, and AliExpress Overview:
- Who: online retailers eBay, Wish, and AliExpress
- Why: a consumer watchdog group found dangerous ingredients in diet pills sold on the online retailers websites
- Where: United Kingdom
Dozens of different brands of diet pills containing dangerous ingredients are being sold on popular online sites including eBay, Wish and AliExpress, a United Kingdom consumer watchdog group found.
The two ingredients – yohimbine and synephrine – can raise blood pressure and heart rate and have “considerable potential to cause harm if used without medical supervision or advice,” The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reports in The Liverpool Echo.
The consumer watchdog discovered two of the nine products it looked at didn’t include any health warnings or dosage information – and some were priced as low as £2.39 plus postage. Many of the pills were advertised with free postage from countries including India, the United States, Ukraine, and Poland.
AliExpress and eBay told The Liverpool Echo they had removed the products from their sites, and Wish said it was also in the process of doing so.
Head of Consumer Protection Policy Sue Davies told the publication the discovery was “concerning” and online retailers had to better police products sold on their sites.
“The limited regulation of these sites is not working – and that’s leaving people exposed to substances that can be harmful,” she said in The Liverpool Echo.
“Online marketplaces must be given greater legal responsibility for the safety of products sold on their sites, so that shoppers are far better protected.”
She added that regulators also needed to be more proactive in policing potentially dangerous products that are offered for sale on these sites, which are becoming increasingly popular places to shop.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA), the MHRA and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) share responsibility for regulating slimming supplements.
An MHRA spokesperson told The Liverpool Echo it was “highly likely that finished products containing either yohimbe or synephrine would satisfy the definition of a medicinal product and we have previously determined many such products to be medicines.”
However, it did say that it would “review” the products uncovered in their investigation.
A DHSC spokesperson said food supplements were tightly regulated and anyone selling prohibited substances as part of a food product would face prosecution.
Did you know that diet pills could contain ingredients that could raise your blood pressure? Let us know in the comments section!
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