Amazon has taken down listings for muscle-building injectable peptides, some of which are considered “doping drugs” by the World Anti-Doping Agency. A new Markup report describes how sellers skirted an Amazon policy banning injectable drugs by labeling the peptides for scientific use.

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• The performance-enhancing drugs, which are synthetic versions of naturally-occurring peptides in the body, can reportedly build muscle and heal injuries.
• At least 66 such listings have appeared on Amazon since August. While they were ostensibly sold for "research" or "lab" purposes, reviews and questions on the listings showed customers were injecting them into their bodies.
• Amy Eichner of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said the drugs can mess with hormones, causing long-term impacts like hormone suppression, growth rate changes, and infertility. Dr. Rand McClain, a sports medicine physician, says many peptides sold online have suspect sourcing and purity. "Amazon needs to do a better job," McClain said.
• The peptides were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Amazon says it recently removed the listings "out of an abundance of caution," months after saying it would crack down on such listings.