Source: Radio New Zealand
Despite being unapproved by Medsafe, synthetic peptides can be bought online “for research purposes”. THOM LEACH / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRA / TLE / Science Photo Library via AFP
Shredded muscles, chiselled jawlines, tanned and clear skin – idealised human bodies bombard people’s daily lives on billboards, televisions and phones.
Now, social media’s driving a boom in the use of untested and potentially harmful drugs that claim to help achieve these Hollywood good looks.
They’re types of synthetic peptides and people with no expertise or supervision are injecting them directly into their bodies.
Despite being unapproved by Medsafe, they can be bought online “for research purposes”.
It follows an expert warning the use of these drugs is dangerous and many are sold based on unproven claims.
Synthetic peptides can be found in some therapeutic drugs, some that might sound familiar are weight-loss drugs like Wegovy or Ozempic.
The drugs are designed to mimic naturally occurring peptides in the human body.
Some can be prescribed by a doctor to fight conditions such as type-two diabetes and sleep apnea. But there’s a growing online market for unregulated peptides that are being used as performance enhancing drugs.
*Bill, a 25-year-old Southland man, first discovered he could buy peptides about six months ago.
“I managed to source a local supplier in New Zealand; from there I managed to source a few different suppliers in China that actually have third part testing along with what you’re buying.
“I’m not going to say it’s 100 percent the safest way to do it, obviously it’s not a chemist.”
Bill said he used a mixture of anabolic steroids in combination with a specific peptide to try and make his muscles look more defined.
He acknowledged that taking unregulated substances came with risks.
“99 percent of peptides out there, you don’t actually know the full effects of what they do in humans, maybe animals if you’re lucky.”
Other peptides on the market claim to enhance melanin and collagen production.
Kai, a 23-year-old man from Auckland, said peptide use was openly talked about at his local gym.
“There’s a trend and everyone’s saying peptides are good for you, take this one for better muscle mass, take that one for better skin, take this one to burn fat.”
Advertising unapproved or prescription-only drugs… including on social media in New Zealand and Australia is illegal.
But Kai said his social media feeds were filled with influencers talking about using peptides.
“You look at one gym clip and then you get like five within the next 10 slides and then it just evolves from there, the more interactions you have.
“At the moment mine is just mostly influencers that are on substances.”
‘There are far too many risks’
Emeritus professor in sports medicine Dr David Gerrard from the University of Otago said using unapproved drugs was dangerous.
“Don’t go there, there are far too many risks without medical supervision and determining what your body is normally producing anyway.
“To supplement that with a synthetic form of the same chemical messenger carries a significant risk.”
“”They are dangerous.”
Dr Gerrard said many peptides talked about on social media didn’t mention the negative consequences.
“I think it’s been trivialised by the people who are in the process and in the marketplace for distributing these drugs and claiming that they will give you new vigour, better complexion and you’ll feel less stressed.
“I think there definitely needs to be a crackdown on the promotion through social media of these unqualified statements, that have come from people who [want] a financial and pecuniary gain from distributing these things.”
Dr Gerrard said athletes in the past have tried to use types of peptides to increase their red-blood cells, but the consequences were life threatening.
“The more red-blood cells you have, the sticker your blood becomes and these athletes, in an unsupervised way were using these drugs.
“They ended up having strokes and heart attacks and problems associated with circulation to brain and heart.”
Many peptides are also on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list, he said.
“They are tested for and they could mean that a young athlete could commit an anti-doping rule violation and lose their ability to compete in their sport. “
Gaps in drug checking
KnowYourStuff manager Casey Spearin. Leah Hollingworth
Casey Spearin from drug checking clinic Know Your Stuff said they were seeing an increasing amount of performance enhancing drugs, including peptides.
“We heard about these kinds of substances, maybe five, six times in the course of a year. Now we’re getting several inquiries into our inbox per week, asking ‘can you check peptides and where can I go to get these checked?”
But Know Your Stuff’s clinics don’t have the technology to be able to check these kinds of drugs. Spearin said if people buy drugs online, they couldn’t be sure of what’s actually in them.
“I’ve talked to people that are interested in importing and distributing these types of things and they are seeking ‘can I actually get testing on these; can I know that the product I’m offering is safe”.
“It’s a really big gap, especially as we see these getting more and more popular.”
The New Zealand Drug Foundation said it had also seen a sharp rise in the number of people asking them to test peptide drugs.
Since December last year, many peptides in New Zealand have been classified as prescription medicines. That means it’s illegal to sell them for therapeutic purposes.
Medsafe’s manager compliance manager Derek Fitzgerald said many new peptides were experimental, so there was little known about any benefits or potential harm.
Peptides imported without a prescription are seized and destroyed at the border.
*Name changed to protect identity
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
