Now Google in the dock over illegal trade in pills
MPs tell web giant to block sites selling prescription-only medication
GOOGLE faced accusations of irresponsibility yesterday over its failure to block links to online pharmacies trading illegally in prescription-only drugs.
A Daily Mail investigation found potentially dangerous drugs for sale without prescription from dozens of pharmacy websites, including so- called abortion pills and a controversial acne drug linked to several teenage suicides.
MPs called for the internet giant to monitor and block links to the illicit traders amid warnings that medicines bought from illegal sites could be contaminated with other substances.
Google – the most used search engine in the world – cannot remove websites from the internet but can stop webpages from appearing in its search results.
It has previously come under fire for its failure to bar links to graphic jihadi propaganda videos and child pornography.
Journalists used Google to find websites selling prescription drugs including sex-change hormones, sleeping pills, cancer drugs, statins and antibiotics.
They were available to buy within minutes following a simple
From Tuesday’s Daily Mail search, and involved minimal checks or health questions from the online pharmacies.
The majority of sites did not warn of potential side effects or verify the buyer’s age, and those that did only required a box to be ticked, and access to a credit card. Dr Sarah Wollaston, the chairman of the Commons health committee, said the illicit trade in prescription drugs was ‘very worrying’ and called for Google to do more to monitor or block such searches.
The Conservative MP and former GP told the Mail: ‘They are generating vast profits and they have vast resources to monitor this sort of thing. They should take it down.’ Labour MP Chi Onwurah said: ‘Google has to recognise it is more than just a platform.
‘It is organising the world’s data and it does need to take responsibility for that.’
It is illegal to sell medication in the UK without a licence, or to sell prescription drugs without a prescription. The UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), shut down 4,760 websites selling medicines without a licence last year but warned it was impossible to control the vast number of unlicensed pharmacies illegally selling drugs online.
Journalists were able to buy the so-called abortion pill in less than three minutes from US and Canadian websites, for around £100 a kit and with minimal questions asked about age or health issues. The drug is only available in the UK with medical approval.
Various hormone replacement drugs used as part of a sex change process were available for sale in less than five minutes from an unlicensed pharmacy site in the South Pacific. The controversial acne treatment Roaccutane was bought in five minutes and arrived in three days from a website in Turkey, with limited questions about age or health issues.
Twenty users of the treatment killed themselves in two years between 2012 and 2014, although an MHRA review concluded there was ‘insufficient data’ to prove it caused psychiatric problems.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘It’s highly concerning to see these prescription drugs – which can be highly dangerous if taken incorrectly or against medical advice – are so readily available online.
‘We would urge all patients to refrain from purchasing prescription drugs from unverified websites, and instead seek the help of a healthcare professional.’
Neal Patel, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, warned that tests on drugs sold from such sites had found they could be contaminated with other substances, including illegal drugs such as crystal meth.
An MHRA spokesman said: ‘We would like to warn people that medicines purchased from websites, particularly websites based overseas, cannot be guaranteed to meet proper standards of quality and safety.’
A Google spokesman said: ‘ We remove links from our results in a limited number of circumstances, such as when we are in receipt of a valid legal request.’