Amazon reportedly removes listings for drugs that could be used for doping
Amazon has removed dozens of listings for peptides, drugs that can be used for doping, after an investigation from The Markup found 66 examples of such products on the site. Peptides are made naturally in the body, but synthetic versions, which can be sold in vials and then reconstituted and injected, are often used as performance-enhancing drugs since they can speed recovery from injuries.
According to The Markup, in recent weeks Amazon had been carrying listings for peptides not on the US Food and Drug Administration’s list of approved drugs, and several of them have in fact been classified by the World Anti-Doping Agency as doping drugs. The drugs were labeled for “research” or “lab” uses, but questions on the products’ pages suggested people were ingesting the drugs.
Amazon told The Markup it decided to remove the products “out of an abundance of caution,” even though the listings tried classifying the products as “not for human injection or consumption.” Amazon has a policy banning the sale of injectable drugs. The company did not immediately return a request for comment from The Verge on Thursday.
A Wall Street Journal report last year found that Amazon was listing products via its third-party sellers that had been banned, mislabeled, or otherwise declared unsafe by US government agencies, including some imported prescription drugs.
Amazon has removed dozens of listings for peptides, drugs that can be used for doping, after an investigation from The Markup found 66 examples of such products on the site. Peptides are made naturally in the body, but synthetic versions, which can be sold in vials and then reconstituted and…
