The perils of fake Viagra: £11million of the counterfeit pills, some containing arsenic, were seized last year as more and more men risk their lives because of sexual insecurity

Shocking new figures show the illegal market in fake or unlicensed erectile dysfunction pills has soared in the UK in recent years. Officials have seized more than £11 million worth of these types of drugs in the past 12 months. 


That's three times the value seized the year before, and a 15-fold increase on the £740,000 haul found in 2013. The increased availability of such drugs via the internet makes getting hold of them much easier. Men like buying them online, rather than through their GP, because it spares their blushes. There is also undoubtedly a growing demand. As well as those who have a medical condition for which Viagra or similar might be correctly prescribed, younger men are using them for sexual enhancement or are even taking them with other recreational drugs. While Viagra costs up to £6 a tablet, fakes can be bought for as little as £1. Other similar pills are illegal, unlicensed generic erectile drugs from India, where they have been made in labs that would not meet British safety standards. Analysis of these pills has found them to contain everything from gypsum (which is also used to make plaster of Paris) to printer ink, brick dust and even highly poisonous arsenic. Leo Darwin (left) and John Browne (right) have both suffered health scares after taking cheap pills.