Urgent warning over ‘dangerous’ muscle-building drugs being sold for as little as 40p illegally

Risky muscle-building drugs are being sold illegally in Britain, a BBC investigation revealed today. 

Undercover reporters found the performance-enhancing substances — sold for as little as 40p a pill — available in shops selling bodybuilding supplements. Retailers were caught offering advice on how to take the pills.

Selective androgen receptor modulators, or SARMs, have also been found on online sites such as eBay and Depop.

They work like steroids but have not been fully tested for safety on humans, are not prescribed by doctors, and are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. 

But studies have shown that SARMs disrupt hormone levels and increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and liver problems. Some have even linked them to infertility. 

Experts today warned they ‘pose a danger’ to users and urged ministers to impose tighter restrictions on their use. 

The drugs — sold in jars of up to 120 pills — have been popular in the underground bodybuilding scene for several years.

SARMs are man-made chemicals that look like testosterone to the body and bind to receptors responsible for muscle growth.

They were originally designed for people with muscle-wasting diseases, and to be less toxic than steroids.

Undercover BBC reporters visited 10 different shops asking for advice on products that would make them ‘bigger and leaner’ in conjunction with gym training. 

While some initially recommended protein shakes, all the retailers went on to advise on the use of SARMs to improve physique quickly and sold the products.

One retailer in Merseyside told a BBC reporter: ‘SARMs are brilliant. Big stores won’t sell them. A small independent store like me, we can sell them, because we can sort of get away with it.

‘We’re not on the radar, so to speak’.

Another said: ‘They’re what you want. Well popular. 45 quid, one in the morning, one at night.’ 

A separate retailer in Yorkshire sold the performance-enhancing drug to a reporter, despite earlier admitting he did not recommend taking SARMs.  

A fourth, from the West Midlands, commented: ‘They’re not even strictly for human consumption, but they are effective.’

When the same seller was asked whether there were side effects, he replied: ‘Not really.’ 

While he acknowledged the possibility of lowered testosterone, he later said: ‘You should be absolutely fine.’ 

The business, when later asked for comment by the BBC, claimed it trained all staff on compliance and legality ‘and would never advise anybody to take SARMs’. 

It added: ‘If we get the feeling somebody will be consuming them we immediately refuse the sale.’

Last year, MailOnline revealed the prohibited performance-enhancing drugs were being sold online on websites including eBay and Depop. 

At the time, eBay removed the listings and slammed ‘opportunistic’ sellers. Depop, meanwhile, pulled adverts from its site.

Yet SARMs are easily found online. This website today discovered supplement sites selling jars of 90 capsules for as little as £37.50. 

One online site, JW Supplements, admitted that its option was ‘very new’ and there ‘isn’t a lot of real world data on in yet’. However, it said: ‘It does look very promising.’

There are concerns young people who would normally not take steroids might turn  to SARMs because they wrongly believe they are safer.

SARMs are also taken in pill form, rather than injected like most steroids, which adds to fears they could be a ‘gateway’ into harsher chemicals.

Both drugs bind to the androgen receptors, causing changes to DNA which allow muscles to grow bigger and quicker.

Steroids are a blunt tool that also impact other parts of the body, which lead to side effects such as prostate issues, hair loss and acne.

SARMs were designed to be ’tissue selective’ – targeting the muscles without setting off this same chain of reactions.

Sellers on the black market have seized on this and used it as a marketing tool to push SARMs. But similar issues have also been seen in SARMs users.

Laura Wilson, the director for Scotland at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, told the BBC more research to be undertaken on the drugs. 

‘SARMs do pose a danger to people who are taking them,’ she said.

‘We would like to see the laws around them tightened, we would like to see better control over them and an acknowledgment that they are not being used for ‘research purposes’ when they’re being purchased.’

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) also said: ‘SARMs are not authorised for sale in the UK and should not be consumed. 

‘If consumers become aware of these products on sale, they should report it to the FSA or to their local authority.’

David Pickering, of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said it will ‘work with the FSA to identify any of these supplements that are found on sale and remove them from the market to protect consumers’.