Buying 'Viagra' online could kill
By JANE SYMONSImpotence remedy ... the real thing
Published: 12 Nov 2008 MEN who buy Viagra on the internet risk flopping in bed, throwing up, or being rushed to hospital.
A shock report warns that 90 per cent of the magic blue pills sold on-line could be fakes.
Lab tests carried out by Pfizer, the company that makes the real impotence medicine, reveal high levels of contamination in counterfeit tablets.
Rat poison, road paint and other toxic ingredients have been found in prescription medicines such as Viagra, statins and blood pressure pills, bought over the internet.
Senior chemist Wendy Greenall said: “A commonly used antibiotic is quite often found in fake Viagra.”
When mixed with alcohol it can make users violently sick.
She says: We often see high levels of non-active substances such as lactose, sucrose and chalk - and they regularly contain paracetamol.”
Anyone unwittingly mixing these fakes with a headache or cold remedy risks permanent liver damage or death because it’s possible to overdose on as little as 5g of paracetamol - the equivalent of 10 headache tablets.
Ms Greenall said: “The counterfeit medicine we see is either obviously fake, or very close to the real thing.”
Some contain Kamagra an impotence medicine sold in India.
More than 335,000 British men could be putting their lives at risk.
A survey of 935 men over 35 carried out for Pfizer revealed that one in ten had bought presciption medicines on line.
On average they spend £30 a year on black-market medicines which means it is worth £10.3 million in the UK alone.
Sun GP Dr Carol Cooper said: “I often have patients who are not eligible for Viagra on the NHS ask about buying it on-line because it’s cheaper.
“My answer is always the same: ‘Don’t’.”
She said others are tempted because they are too embarrassed to ask for the blue pills.
But she added: “It would be a lot more embarrassing to have a severe reaction.”
How do you kow if your pills are the real thing when bying online? Look out for the British Pharmaceutical 'Registered Pharmacy' logo (above), it indicates a legitimate internet pharmacy.
Globally it’s estimated to be worth £20billion a year.
Sun GP Dr Carol Cooper said: “I often have patients who are not eligible for Viagra on the NHS ask about buying it on-line because it’s cheaper.
“My answer is always the same: ‘Don’t’.”
She said others are tempted because they are too embarrassed to ask for the blue pills.
But she added: “It would be a lot more embarrassing to have a severe reaction.”
How do you kow if your pills are the real thing when bying online? Look out for the British Pharmaceutical 'Registered Pharmacy' logo (above), it indicates a legitimate internet pharmacy.
