The National Union for the Protection of Consumer Rights transferred unregistered dietary supplements purchased from Wildberries and other online stores to the Rospotrebnadzor laboratory and received the expected results. Of the 22 samples of “male” dietary supplements, 21 were found to contain the prescription drug sildenafil, with a bunch of side effects and contraindications. Prescribed prescription sibutramine (an amphetamine derivative) was found in the weight loss products. For its trafficking, you can get a real prison sentence for both the seller and the buyer.
The state somehow copes with the illegal circulation of drugs; such advertisements are quickly identified and blocked. Although not everything is going smoothly here, recently journalists bought the prescription antiviral areplevir under the guise of a dietary supplement; human rights organizations even contacted the authorities about this, and deputy Khinshtein sent a request to the Prosecutor General. Prescription drugs cannot be sold online. But it turns out that if you cheat and mix this substance into a dietary supplement, then the control is less strict, other officials are responsible for this, and no one cares about the consequences?
Last week, the Center for Social Development published the results of a long-term study – every 4th dietary supplement in RuNet is sold without state registration, every 5th contains components prohibited in Russia. 17% of proposals for the sale of dietary supplements describe unrealistic effects. Meanwhile, the marketplaces are doing fine as usual, no problems. As soon as a scandal begins, they simply shift responsibility or temporarily remove the product from sale. So in the case of areplivir, Wildberries reports: it’s not us, it’s the supplier, we are not responsible for what he sells. As usually happens with us, reality overtakes government regulation. It would be nice to block such pages, but the law on blocking pages with information about the sale of violating dietary supplements has not yet been approved.
Pavel Shapkin believes that the problem is the low level of input control on many marketplaces, as well as the lack of responsibility for violating the trading regime on the Internet. It is necessary to tighten the rules of online retail, oblige the seller to indicate the full composition, contraindications, dosage regimen, state registration certificate number and everything else that is mandatory for an offline store. And give officials the opportunity to block pages with unregistered pseudo-dietary supplements that can harm the health of the consumer.
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“The market for illegal dietary supplements is growing rapidly”
Head of the National Health Insurance Fund Pavel Shapkin talks about the dangers of purchasing unregistered dietary supplements on the Internet
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