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Regulators have a word for it:doping.
Several are classified as doping drugs by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
We do not sanction customer misuse or abuse of products, McCarthy said.
Every one of the listings has since come down.
McCarthy did not comment on how many vials had been sold before the company took action.
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Medical researchers are examining peptides formany possible applications.
Earlier this year, Cuba claimed its biotechnologists had discovereda peptidethat may be helping to curb deaths from COVID-19.
A slew of peptides are now banned.
Nevertheless, providers say getting a prescription ensures a degree of quality and precision in dosing.
So the risk-tolerant are looking to the internet.
Some appear to be turning one another on to peptides throughReddit threads,Facebook groups, andYouTube testimonials.
Rendon said he learned about peptides reputation for promoting healing from aYouTube videohosted by a competitive bodybuilder he admires.
With a few clicks, Rendon was able to find peptides BPC 157 and TB-500 on Amazon.com.
This wasnt some backroom drug deal.
This was Amazon a company Redon knew and trusted.
And reviews showed others did, too.
Many said it was safe with great feedback, Rendon said in an interview with The Markup.
So I just went for it.
Two weeks of use and shoulder pain & knee pain greatly improved, he wrote.
This product is the first to lessen my symptoms considerably.
The rest did not have these specific disclaimers but listed the drugs under Amazons Industrial and Scientific category.
But owners of other sites whove claimed peptides were being sold for research have still faced prosecution.
She did not explain why some peptide listings had been live and selling to customers for years.
The items have since been removed and the account is now inactive, Segelman said.
Another seller, Pendmo Supplies, shuttered its entire business after being contacted by The Markup.
Jennifer also acknowledged the market is really for human use, adding she takes two herself.
Peptides are administered via injection, she said.
Otherwise the stomach acid would destroy it.
Also checking this is extremely hard.
It really can be a life and death decision, Louis said.
Amazon declined to comment on the safety issues posed by peptide listings.
Some of its customers, reviews show, were worried.
One customer wrote that he sought a lab report from the seller, only to be ignored.
He wrote it would have been crazy to blindly trust them.
Im not so mad to inject or ingest an unknown powder in my body, he said.
Poor quality control, contaminated.
Mclain said Amazon should be making sure sellers arent trying to skirt U.S. drug laws with false disclaimers.
Amazon needs to do a better job, Mclain said.
It wasnt an isolated event.
Officials said the drugs led to a mass overdose in Tennessee.
At least two people died.
Out of an abundance of caution we are restricting them going forward.
When The Markup again contacted Amazon about Strength Products in June, the storefront was shuttered.
Strength Products did not respond to requests for comment.
But The Markup found active listings for peptides on Amazon.commany with reviews indicating human consumptionas recently as last week.
The Markup found Amazons own customer tools were used to offer people what they needed to start dosing.
In reviews and product question features, customers exchanged tips on how to use the drugs.
That didnt stop countless customers from viewing the information before the listings were pulled.
Your cartilage and tendons wouldnt be perfect with one bottle, addedMichael Careyin response.
It does work and everyones body is different.
One customer browsinga peptide listingthought to ask, should I only buy peptides from licensed pharmacies?
The emphatic reply from another customer: yes, you should.
This article wasoriginally published on The Markupand was republished under theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeslicense.
