For some time now, the American far Right has been going absolutely ballistic over the “safety” of heavily tested and vetted prescription medications — vaccines; puberty blockers, but only in the case of trans children; hormones, but only for trans people; abortion medications, and so on. Oh, how very sure they are that these particular drugs, which by sheer coincidence just happen to clash with their personal religious beliefs, must be extremely dangerous in some capacity.
And yet, at the same time, they’ve also gone crazy for a variety of extremely untested and occasionally known-to-be-dangerous snake oils they’ve decided are safer and somehow superior to the things we actually know work. They’ve been hoovering up horse paste, chugging colloidal silver and magical mystery bleach, and going on bizarre diets where they consume nothing but raw meat, couch cushion foam, and mimosas. They’ll do just about anything to prove the experts wrong, because they’re just tired of all the experts out there looking down their expert noses at them, acting like they know better just because they, factually, do know better. So rude!
Lately, a lot of right-wing podcast bros, particularly those who favor the manosphere, have become enamored with injecting “peptides” meant to make them more attractive, help them heal more quickly from injuries (because of all the Fight Clubbing they do, probably), build muscle and, I don’t know … grow bigger dicks? That has to be one of the things, right?
The most popular of these “peptide stacks” seems to be the “Wolverine” stack, which combines two synthetic peptides, BPC-157 and TB-500, meant to help people heal faster and promote muscle growth. Use of the peptide has increased 33-fold in the last six years, despite the fact that there is no evidence that it does jack shit in human beings besides maybe encourage tumor growth.
Unfortunately for them, however, it’s not always easy to get these bullshit peptides — not because we don’t want them to be super buff lady killers, but because they have not been properly tested for safety or efficacy. As a result, a lot of the more legit compounding pharmacies in the US have been hesitant to give them out to fellas looking to get swole, causing them to rely on black market dealers from overseas.
But as of this week, that will no longer be a problem, as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced a policy of “enforcement discretion” when it comes to these peptides. This basically means that pharmacies can make and sell them without going through the usual testing requirements to prove that they work and don’t cause cancer or birth defects, and the FDA will just look the other way.
According to a document on the new policy the secretary released Wednesday:
The Secretary of HHS has determined that this limited enforcement-discretion policy will discourage the continued, widespread use of certain research-use-only peptides supplied by foreign manufacturers that pose a safety risk to US patients. By allowing limited compounding of the substances addressed in this guidance under appropriate safeguards, the policy provides patients with a more controlled alternative. Based on the available evidence, including the recommendations of a recent Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, the Secretary has determined that the policy advances patient choice and freedom while appropriately protecting patient safety.
The announcement suggests that this decision might be based more on RFK Jr.’s personal whims and loyalties than it is on the advice of experts and scientists.
I will say that I tend to veer on the side of the legalization (and certainly the decriminalization) of all drugs, in general, in combination with extensive safety testing and regulations. I truly do not personally care if a bunch of podcast bros want to inject themselves with Incredible Hulk sperm or whatever. Sure, I’ll make fun of them, because that’s hilarious, but if they’re adults, they should be free to ruin their own bodies to whatever extent they want, so long as they’re not hurting anyone else. Honestly, it’s probably the least offensive and harmful thing any of these freaks are doing.
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That being said, where we are going to run into some issues is the fact that this sends the message that these peptides are safe and that the FDA isn’t concerned enough about them to bother about it.
“I think what it translates to for the average consumer and someone looking for these peptides is there’s been a tacit recommendation from the F.D.A. and that it’s OK,” John Hertig, chairman of the Collaborative for Evidence-Based Medicines, told The New York Times. “When really there hasn’t been the diligence and the review and the scientific rigor that we deserve as the American public, in terms of what we ingest or inject.”
This matters because, as much as the Right might like to pretend, the FDA has had a pretty incredible track record and reputation when it comes to safety testing. As the New York Times article notes, the FDA famously refused to approve thalidomide for morning sickness when its European counterparts had allowed it, which meant that US Americans avoided the thalidomide-induced birth defects that afflicted so many in other parts of the world. There will be those who might not have otherwise taken these peptides who might just give it a go now that they’re at least considered “safe” enough to ignore and not bother to regulate in any meaningful way. It is possible that it won’t end too well for them.
The FDA already “looks the other way” when it comes to the efficacy of supplements and “natural” remedies, like homeopathic tinctures and what have you, and that’s not something that always ends well. This, however, goes a lot further, considering we’re talking about things that are actually injected into the human body. Even if the efficacy of it isn’t regulated, there should at least be more safety testing so people know that they may be getting more than just a new set of extra-long and pointy nails and some excessive body hair.
There is also something that is just especially unsettling about the fact that the FDA, which really should be a nonpartisan preventer of food poisoning and thalidomide babies, is making special “culture war” exceptions based on the wants and needs of the right-wing podcasters the secretary of Health and Human Services hopes will think he is cool. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d still rather take the advice of doctors and research scientists than that of people who have smashed their faces in with hammers in the pursuit of handsomeness.
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Y'all ever read in the Cyberpunk genre? We are living in it. Megacorporations, Fascism, unlicensed body modification, cybercrimes.
It's all here, just unevenly distributed. Maybe Street Samurai will be the next fad.
I get all my engine additives at Peptide Boys.