NHS England has published an open letter to Instagram voicing their concerns over an illegal and harmful weight-gain drug Apetamin that is being sold on the platform. Apetamin is not licensed in the U.K and its misuage could lead to severe health complications such as jaundice and liver failure.
The allegations against the platform initially began after the release of BBC Three’s Dangerous Curves documentary – which revealed that the drug was being sold on the platform. Instagram addressed the concerns – stating that they had removed the accounts selling the drug. The NHS bit back – however – and argued that most of the accounts were still online and had not been removed after they were reported.
The open letter to Instagram was co-written by Stephen Powis – the National Medical Director of the NHS, Clare Murdoch – the National Mental Health Director of the NHS, and Kitty Wallace – the Head of Operations at the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation: the three medical experts demanded immediate action against the Instagram accounts selling the Apetamin drug:
“We are writing regarding the unlicensed and dangerous drug Apetamin, which is promoted on your platform and could result in serious harm to any individual who takes it. This substance is consumed as a supplement, to foster a specific body image and shape, deemed to be desirable by some high-profile influencers, and predominantly targeted at younger women and girls. On behalf of NHS patients, staff and people experiencing body dysmorphic disorder and other mental health conditions, as well as their families, we are concerned about both the physical and mental health impacts of the promotion of this drug and strongly urge you to demonstrate a duty of care for your customers, and clamp down now on this dangerous content.”
The letter also questioned Instagram’s stance on promoting body positivity while also allowing the sale of weight gain drugs such as Apetamin to thrive on the platform:
“Permitting the sale of supplements such as Apetamin, whose purpose is primarily to encourage impressionable, often younger, women and girls to achieve an unobtainable and biologically unsafe body shape and type, is at odds with Instagram’s community guidelines”.
Moreover, the letter highlighted that multiple social media influencers have promoted the harmful drug to their followers – promising that the drug would help them achieve hourglass figures similar to Kim Kardashian and Cardi B.
A spokesperson from the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation also revealed that an increased number of individuals have been diagnosed with body dysmorphia and that social media is playing a dangerous role in their mental health:
“As a small charity we are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the numbers of people reaching out to us for more support with the debilitating condition body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Although social media is not the cause of BDD, it has a huge role to play in exacerbating the symptoms. We urge companies, such as Instagram, to take the wellbeing of their vulnerable users seriously. The promotion of Apetamin on social media can be very damaging in terms of physical and mental health, and therefore should not go unchallenged.”