Number of illegal anabolic steroid seizures doubled last year

The number of illegal anabolic steroids seized by the State’s health product regulator doubled last year, to more than 200,000 doses, new figures show.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) seized 204,843 units of anabolic steroids last year, up from 101,683 units in 2020.

The Health Service Executive warns against the use of anabolic steroids without a prescription, for example by gym users or fitness enthusiasts to increase muscle mass. It said side effects of incorrect use of the steroids can include infertility, erectile dysfunction, shrunken testicles, reduced sperm count, severe acne, breast development and increased risk of prostate cancer.

The number of erectile dysfunction pills seized by the regulator dropped dramatically last year, down from 484,846 in 2020, to 103,816 pills last year.

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However, the regulator said the large amount of pills confiscated in 2020 included one shipment of more than 370,000 tablets.

The regulator also said it had seized more than 56,000 units of purported Covid-19 medication, which included 28,302 units of ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug which has been used as a treatment for the disease despite little evidence of its efficacy.

The number of illicit sedative medicines seized, such as Benzodiazepines, increased by more than a quarter, up from 583,805 pills in 2020 to nearly 750,000 units last year.

The amount of illegal painkillers confiscated by the HPRA increased slightly, up from 145,921 units in 2020 to 161,670 last year.

Record high

The health products regulator said the overall number of illegal medicines seized last year remained close to a record high, with 1.6 million doses of illegal or fake products confiscated.

The regulator urged the public to be aware of the dangers of buying prescription medicines online from unauthorised sources.

The HPRA took prosecutions in three cases over the unauthorised sales of anabolic steroids last year, another over the unauthorised sale of Viagra medication, and one case over the supply of medical products from a market stall.

Grainne Power, the regulator's director of compliance, described the high number of illegal medicines seized last year as "very concerning".

The regulator often found significant numbers of seized medications were falsely labelled, had incorrect information about the strength of the dose, “or have been found to contain a different ingredient altogether,” she said.

The illegal supply of unauthorised, and potentially fake medicines, “clearly presents a significant risk to public health,” Ms Power said.