It is easy to purchase prescription drugs and controlled substances through spam messages via the Internet, two Canadian researchers found.
In fact, one-third of all spam messages advertise health products such as drugs and natural health products, said study authors Peter Gernburd and Alejandro Jadad at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University of Toronto.
The researchers studied e-mail messages sent to three accounts over a one month period and found the three accounts received 4,153 spam messages and found 73 percent of the health-related spam came from the United States, 16 percent from China and 5 percent from the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported the journal PLoS Medicine.
The researchers said they successfully purchased sedatives purported to be Valium and Xanax, an opiate pain killer Tramadol, a drug for erectile dysfunction and an anti-obesity drug, as well as several mixtures of natural health products to promote weight reduction or improvement of male sexual function.
"As the number of people who turn to the Internet looking for health or lifestyle problems increases, merchants will rise to the occasion, matching the demand," the authors said in a statement. "As this study has shown, current regulatory, legal and geographic boundaries are unable to contain the flow of products across the world."
In fact, one-third of all spam messages advertise health products such as drugs and natural health products, said study authors Peter Gernburd and Alejandro Jadad at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University of Toronto.
The researchers studied e-mail messages sent to three accounts over a one month period and found the three accounts received 4,153 spam messages and found 73 percent of the health-related spam came from the United States, 16 percent from China and 5 percent from the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported the journal PLoS Medicine.
The researchers said they successfully purchased sedatives purported to be Valium and Xanax, an opiate pain killer Tramadol, a drug for erectile dysfunction and an anti-obesity drug, as well as several mixtures of natural health products to promote weight reduction or improvement of male sexual function.
"As the number of people who turn to the Internet looking for health or lifestyle problems increases, merchants will rise to the occasion, matching the demand," the authors said in a statement. "As this study has shown, current regulatory, legal and geographic boundaries are unable to contain the flow of products across the world."