Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Deferred
Paragraph: 59
Commission national review of anabolic steroid use and launch safe use awareness campaign.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Department commissions a national review of the growing use of anabolic steroids in England as it relates to body image. We further recommend that the Department introduces a national awareness campaign around safe anabolic steroid use. This ought to be coordinated through existing steroid user support groups and targeted at areas of highest risk, such as gyms with a high proportion of body builders.
Government Response Summary
The government's response largely deflected the recommendation for a national review and awareness campaign on anabolic steroid use, instead focusing on the Online Advertising Programme (OAP) and its consideration of advertisements that contribute to body image concerns, and engagement with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on digitally altered images.
Paragraph Reference:
59
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The government acknowledges the possible link between digitally altered body images and mental health, including the potential harms such a link may cause. Through its work on the OAP , DCMS is considering how the government should approach advertisements that contribute to body image concerns, such as adverts that portray or present: body types cosmetic interventions health products medicines The government recognises the work that ASA has already done in this area via standards setting, training and formal rulings, and looks forward to working alongside ASA to identify the appropriate course of action. The consultation on the OAP closed on 8 June 2022, and DCMS is currently analysing consultation responses and developing policy. DCMS will be setting out more details on its intended actions in the government response to the OAP consultation, which will be published in due course. Our priority will be to ensure that any intervention is evidence based, and makes a real and positive difference. In addition to this, the government will work with both ASA and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers regarding the organisation’s roles in encouraging advertisers and influencers against doctoring images. The extent of DCMS ’s role in this work will be decided as the OAP develops. The government believes that the range of body aesthetics featured in advertisements is ultimately a decision for advertisers and brands to make. However, the government recognises the committee’s view surrounding the role that greater representation of diverse body types could play in reducing negative body image and would welcome industry initiatives in this space.