Calls to ban weight loss pill

Alli should only be sold if you have a BMI of more than 28

There are calls for a ban on the controversial weight loss drug Alli being sold online.

People with anorexia and bulimia say they're getting around medical checks to buy Alli on the internet from chemists like Boots.

It was launched back in April and was the first diet pill available to buy in Britain without a doctor's prescription.

It promises to help people lose weight faster as part of a healthy diet with exercise and works by stopping the body from absorbing fat.

To buy it at a chemist you need to talk to a pharmacist, who'll work out your Body Mass Index (BMI.)

If it's more than 28, it means you need to lose weight and you can buy Alli to help you.

Charity concerns

The Royal College of GPs says it's a serious concern and BEAT, the UK's leading eating disorder charity, says it knows people with anorexia and bulimia are getting hold of Alli.

They're avoiding face-to-face contact with a pharmacist by shopping at high street chemists online and getting the pills delivered to their door.

Sally, not her real name, is suffering with anorexia. As soon as she saw Alli being launched she wanted to buy it.

She said: "Obviously I know that clinically I'm underweight but there's a part of your brain that tells you you're fat and you need to lose weight. You'll do whatever you can."

Weighing six stone (38kg), with a BMI of 16, she knew there was no way she would be able to convince a pharmacist she was overweight so she went online to investigate.

"I didn't want to get it from anywhere unreputable, or some dodgy online company," she said.

"I found out that Boots sold them. I thought they're a reputable company, I'll try and get it from there."

Beating the checks

Newsbeat went on to the Boots website and tried if for ourselves. We calculated a weight and height that would give a BMI of over 28, answered a few more questions and sent the order through.

Boots say every order placed online is checked by a pharmacist and rejected if it doesn't meet the right criteria.

Alli helps people lose weight faster as part of a healthy diet with exercise

It says it turns away between eight to 10% of orders of Alli and is doing all it can to stop the wrong people buying medicines online.

We got an email back saying a pharmacist had approved our order. A few days later a pack of Alli arrived.

Sally thinks having Alli so easily available encourages people to buy it: "I don't know many women who aren't conscious about their weight.

"I certainly think it happens a lot more than people realise because it's so easy to get."

Susan Ringwood is the chief executive of BEAT.

She said: "We were really concerned when people started to contact us saying they could get Alli online, because we simply didn't know it was possible to do that."

GlaxoSmithKline, who make Alli, worked with BEAT to draw up guidelines for pharmacists selling the pill over the counter.

Susan said: "We thought by having the pharmacist involved it was one of the ways companies could guarantee the safety of this drug."

GlaxoSmithKline says more than 100 clinical tests on 30,000 people worldwide have proved Alli is safe.

It says it simply won't have much effect on someone with an eating disorder because there is so little fat in their diet.

'Addiction danger'

But critics say that's not good enough.

Chairman of the Royal College of GPs Steve Field said having such easy access to Alli online could mean people waited too long before getting medical help.

They could become mentally addicited to the pills and it could make an eating disorder worse.

Dr Field said he would ideally like to see Alli only available by prescription.

He said at the least a ban on it being sold online would help towards stopping it getting into the wrong hands.