The US Food and Drug Administration said it has completed a sweep of illegal online pharmacies that targeted 136 websites that appeared to be illegally selling drugs to American consumers.

In a campaign dubbed the International Internet Week of Action, the FDA issued 22 warning letters to operators of the websites. It also included notices to service providers and domain name registrars that their customers were selling pharmaceuticals in violation of US law.

Websites peddling Viagra, steroids and other pharmaceuticals have emerged as a major source of spam over the past few years. In addition to clogging inboxes, the sites can put customers' health at risk because the drugs are frequently counterfeits. According to a study released in August, almost 90 percent of online drugstores advertised on Microsoft's Bing search engine violated federal and state laws, usually for not requiring a doctor's prescription.

Curtailing the practice has proved difficult. Spammers frequently use multiple layers of linked and redirected domains, so that even when one domain name is taken down, they continue to lead to new replacement addresses.

The FDA said the notices sent to service providers and registrars may give them grounds to terminate service to their customers. ®

Related stories

• Comment Internet and journos fertilise scrotum-ripping drug panic (2 December 2009)
• Doctor sentenced for massive online Rx factory (6 November 2009)
• Updated Fraud groups ding Bing for illicit pharmacy promos (4 August 2009)
• ICANN cast as online scam enabler (3 September 2008)
• Registrars turn blind eye to sites selling illegal steroids (21 July 2008)
• Guilty plea in alleged internet steroid ring (21 March 2007)