ian haslam, bbc news. i love that. dog rescuer. there is a story to bring a smile to your face the saturday afternoon. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear hello. it took a while, but showers did eventually develop —— overnight, though showers will tend to fade away and under clear skies, we do it all again which means temperatures are likely to fall closer or just means temperatures are likely to fall closer orjust below freezing with the blue tones denoting very we could see a forced first thing in rural areas, could see a forced first thing in ruralareas, chilly could see a forced first thing in rural areas, chilly start to sunday, bit of patch and missed. that is a way to sunny spells and scattered showers with them once again being heavy with hail and thunder. all change a bank holiday monday, area of low pressure expected to push on

from the atlantic with wet and windy weather arriving through northern ireland, gradually pushing its way into southern scotland, north—west england and wales, perhaps things carry the far north of scotland in south—east england should stay dry until the end of the afternoon. top temperature hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... a change in guidance on care homes — from tuesday residents in england will be able to visit relatives without having to self—isolate when they return. india becomes the first country to record 400,000 coronavirus infections in a single day. st paul's cathedral launches a campaign to raise money for a memorial to commemorate those who have died with covid—i9.

and there's a warning that most of the uk's summer music cancellation insurance. now on bbc news... influencers across the globe are promoting apetamin as a quick fix for kardashian—esque curves. but there's a lot they don't know about this so—called �*miracle�* syrup. 0ne user has been investigating for bbc news. i am altou mvuama, a model and influencer. so obviously appearance is everything for me. it is a really competitive world out there. and sometimes people do crazy things to stand out from the crowd.

i have always been very slim. that might have been great for naomi campbell, but now the girls that make serious cash have curves. i like that. thick. thicc. oh, girl. t h i q u e would be the posh way. slim fit to me is having a slim waist. —— slim thicc. big thighs. big bum. that is what everyone focuses on. i would classify cardi b as being a slim thicc. kylie jenner. kim kardashian ppushed it quite a lot. kim kardashian pushed it quite a lot. there is a product out there that they claim makes it easy, but can it really be that simple? so this whole slim thicc look, that's what i was trying to go for. and i came across some youtubers and they were taking apetamin to gain weight.

i googled it and i saw, black—market staff, 0k. —— stuff. ijust decided, hang on, i have this product, lets try it. i collapsed in the street i and they brought me into hospital. i kept falling over and tripping up. i had a patient who came in to our liver clinic, she could have full liver failure had she continued. illegal? oh, wow. if apetamin is illegal, what is it doing in all of my socials? i have taken apetamin myself to get the most desirable look. but i look up to kyliejenner because she isjust a big influencer, so inspirational, and ijust really

like her body. i feel like you have to look a certain way if you want to make it big. i don't think it isjust me, ifeel like there are plenty other models and girls out there that feel like they need to change themselves due to what they see on social media. people are doing a lot of crazy things to get that slim thicc body. like taking apetamin, an unlicensed medicine that is definitely not made to be used for boosting your bum. today i will be reviewing and giving my input. simmer down. right here, what is this product that these girls are taking and saying is giving them hips and booties and thighs and maybe bigger breasts? i will be giving you my review on this.. apetamin. apetamin, i get so many

questions all the time. influencers all over the world are promoting apetamin. i was one of them. i literally, all of you would not stop asking me this question. you have got a little breast there, it is going. —— growing. and look at this. i have tried it and even promoted it to my followers. back then, i didn't do my research, i didn't know how it could affect you. i have gained weight, you can see. if you are out there struggling, get yourself apetamin. you have to speak to your medical advisor if you want to, but, yeah, i didn't do that, because, yeah. i am thinking of taking it again but i have heard some nasty rumours. there is a video going around of a girl in the us.

welcome back. she talked about her apetamin experience. and so what happened to me, when i was taking apetamin. she believes that apetamin made her really drowsy and she even blacked out. she is lucky to be alive. oh, my days! i cannot believe she fell asleep! you definitely get really sleepy and tired and miserable. my mum thought i was pregnant at one point because of the amount of times i was sleeping. she was thinking, what are you doing? get up, you are moving like a lowlife. i was falling asleep at school,

my mood swings were crazy. but that wasn't my mum's only worry. she did not want me to take apetamin. she was taking it like a long time ago, because again she loves being thicc, she loves being thicc, it had a huge effect on her, because she has sickle—cell anaemia, she had to go to hospital and she ended up in a coma. it wasn't good at all. so you took it after that? that was year seven, so... ok, i know i seem mad for still thinking about taking it, but i sometimes feel like having a perfect body is worth the risk. so the side—effects of apetamin... tiredness. you feel quite nauseous. i was sleeping all the time, completely knockout. - it even hurt my eyes to be awake.

i would jerk or shiver or shake orjump. i was probably overdosing. i couldn't even write my name on a piece of paper, _ my hands were shaking that much. i collapsed in the street and they brought me into hospital. i kept falling over and tripping up. i went to college and the same thing happened again. back in hospital. my feet started to swell, i had to change into my slippers on a night out. i was in denial. i took it again and collapsed down the stairs at home. apetamin is the devil. that's all i have to say about this. my mum was always there for me when i was starting out as a model. a few months ago, just as my career was taking off, her illness got worse and she passed away. she supported me but i am the breadwinner now. i have my little sister to look after, i have to pay for the rent, council tax, internet and food shopping. it feels horrible being an adult. there is way more pressure on me to do well.

i am seriously tempted to take apetamin again. usually i can never eat enough to gain weight, but apetamin changed that. every single day i would order mcdonald's, the most surprising thing is i would get the same delivery man and he will be looking at me like, oh, god, what is your obsession? —— the most embarrassing thing. little did he know it is just apetamin. i have been taking apetamin for the past five weeks. i was taking it - for about 2—3 months. i went from weighing 54 kilograms to 86 kilograms, all in the space of three months. a month and a half that i was taking apetamin, i probably— gained about two stone. my mum tells me the time, be careful, you have

put on weight in your face. i cannot physically see the drastic change i want to see. i was told taking apetamin will literally make me gain weight around my bum and hips. to be honest, it is quite daft of me to think that. the whole of me wants to increase. like you put me in water and like you put me in waterand i like you put me in water and ijust expanded — like you put me in water and ijust expanded something. _ my name is edward. these two are personal trainers and lately they have been getting a lot of questions about apetamin. they are trying to achieve an hourglass figure, mainly how to achieve a small waist and large hips. that is what i want as well. her body, gosh, she has literally got the perfect slim thicc body. you can tell she really puts in the effort. would i do the same? probably not. i wanted to know if they think

apetamin really works. as well as being really muscly, ed is a pharmacist. 0ur subscribers are telling us that they are using this drug, apetamin. the youngest person, she was 12 years old. i decided to research, you are not going to become more curvyjust by eating more food. it is not going to make you become curvy. fat doesn't have a lot of structure. if you train the right muscles, you can increase your curves. your muscle mass doesn't come easy. they want people to know that apetamin is not the miracle fix nfluencers say it is. influencers say it is. did you know it was illegal? oh, wow. i guess no. it is illegal? it is illegal. it is not licensed in the uk,

it is not licensed in america. itjust has crept into the market. you made this look easy! i do not think the gym life is for me. you knew that? yeah, but... i had an inkling that it was illegal from the time when i went to the chemist and asked for it, and they looked at me as if i was mad. they said, you're not supposed to be taking this. i ran away. imean... so it is black—market stuff. 0k. everyone does bad things every day, don't they? i went to the african stores and asked, and she says, yeah.

i got sent apetamin by a company on instagram, but it is all over the internet. there is literally so many sellers, it is actually insane. i even got it on amazon. i wanted to see if i could buy it at the shops. the bbc set me up with some secret filming equipment. it is not what i would normally wear, but me move. i could spot the bottles everywhere, it is crazy, really easy to get your hands on. why is it being sold near meat?

i asked him where it is from. thank you so much. thank you. have a wonderful day. i bought one, two and three today. really exciting, like we were going on a little mission. i cannot believe it is sold so freely. people are buying apetamin without realising it is an unlicensed medicine, and they shouldn't be taking it like this. so what is actually in it? i don't know what that is.

it sounds dodgy. hydrochloride. i don't know how to pronounce this. the guy in the butchers said it comes from india. 0n here it says til healthcare. so i am just going to google them. they are based in india. it is sold in the congo, ethiopia, ghana, ivory coast. basically africa. asia, centraland latin america as well. russia. this is interesting. it is basically everywhere. but we don't see the united kingdom. they shouldn't be selling it in the uk. i contacted til healthcare and they said this...

i was interested to see that it was sold in the congo, that is where my mum was from. i am not quite sure how she found out about it. i guess it is quite popular in the congolese community. so i am guessing it has a link. obviously there was no social media when my mum was going up in the congo, which means it's been sold in pharmacies there for years. everyone�*s obsession with these pills has got a name, it is a c—ii phenomenon, because they all share the same ingredient and it has been in the news. but this isn't an entirely new fad. big can mean beautiful in many african cultures since the dawn of time. nearly three quarters of the people have tried it. i put 60 pills in the syrup product at then i mix it and take it before bed. 60 pills in a syrup, that is nuts!

i say to women who take i the stuff, stop, because it is poison. but it will not be easy to fight the power of social pressure, and the buttock boosting business here could one day approach the size of the weight loss industry in western countries. it seems that it could already be happening in the uk. the company that makes apetamin say they do not send it here, so how does it get into shops? i am going to newcastle to meet an expert on how bad stuff gets into the uk. if it isn't hard enough travelling at the moment, the weather is grim. alex researches unlicensed medicine. have you heard of apetamin? i know there is an online trade. meat shops as well. so you can get your meat and yourapetamin? it will have been manufactured largely in another part of the world. one of the biggest and most illicit

lifestyle drugs on the market in the uk is an unlicensed version of what we know as viagra. that is largely legally produced in india, so it is licensed in india, but unlicensed in the uk. i think it's a pretty similar story with apetamin. it is licensed in india but in the uk it is not, why is it so hard to stop these unlicensed medicines coming in? with illicit lifestyle drugs, there is so much of a grey area that it can be really difficult for them to police. some people who have been involved in distributing cocaine have actually moved into the fake medicine trade. if you are caught with a certain amount of cocaine in the uk, you can end up in prison for a very long time. but if you are caught with something like a lifestyle drugs, you're probably going to get a slap on the wrist.

if the regulators know that this product is unlicensed, it is not meant to come into the uk, why are they allowing it to come in? how am i meant to know that apetamin is dangerous? the shop owner probably doesn't know, it all goes down to the people bringing the product in the country. we asked the mhra, the organisation who is meant to police this, and they told us... i have a day off so i'm going to call someone who knows about how apetamin affects people. i am about to skype call doctor victoria, she is in america, she wrote this paper. this is one of the few studies done on apetamin.

hello. nice to meet you. my first question is, when did you first find out about apetamin? i had a patient who came into our liver clinic and she was complaining of fatigue. she was jaundiced, her skin was yellow. her body was fighting her liver. do you know how serious it could have been if she was to perhaps continue taking it? it is hard to know what would have happened, she could have full liver failure had she continued. yeah, because when my mother was taking it, she was kind of like the patient you just described, you just described, she was taking a lot, she was over the limit. it actually caused her to go coma. i am really sorry to hear that. what particularly worries me

about apetamin is the way that it is marketed. as a vitamin supplement, which implies it is safe, that it is natural. the active ingredient that stimulates appetite and a few other ingredients, there are no actual studies about it. we do not know how apetamin will impact a person. influencers promote apetamin without realising it is a medicine. sometimes people end up taking way too much. and some people, like my mother, probably should have never taken it at all. 0bviously when i went to speak to the doctor, we heard all about the side—effects, and hearing that was really shocking, how it affects your liver. i was thinking that, god those what would

have happened to me if i kept on taking it. —— god knows. so obviously i will not be taking that again. because i love my life. while i was on my next shoot, i couldn't stop thinking about how far we go sometimes to get the perfect body. how strong the pressure is to make a certain weight. i feel that as much as anyone. and i have done things i regret because of that. i definitely regret making the video i did of apetamin, because of the truth i know now, i know that apetamin is unlicensed, it shouldn't be sold and it has a huge affect on you. through that video, someone might buy

apetamin, start taking it, misuse it perhaps, and then perhaps they can get liver failure as well, and that would be because of me. it is really sad to think that there are girls endangering their lives just to look a certain way. rappers, rappers, rappers. i would say they are the main cause of why a lot of girls are insecure. he says he doesn't like them bony, he wants something he can grab. there is this one which was like, well, this is not healthy for my mind. she is basically saying the men don't want me. when i was growing up, _ it was very skinny, slim, you know, low—cut jeans and everything like i

that, showing off the flat stomach. it has changed from being slim, now being hourglass figure. big bum, big breasts. i thought taking the apetamin was the easy route. when that didn't work out, i decided to get the bbl. i said, ok, i will get my breasts done and that's it. three years down the line, i found myself on the table again stop i was somewhat disappointed and disgusted with myself because i have put my life at risk for the sake of looking nice in address. ijust want to feel like i have got everything, lam beautiful, i have ticked every box. so that no one has anything negative to say about me. i don't know what it stems from, but it all stems from somewhere. social media is extremely toxic.

girls of my generation, they will know what i'm talking about, they make you feel, if you don't look this way, then you're nothing. and when you see public figures like kim kardashian, kyliejenner and all these other celebrities, they have got such beautiful bodies but i think we all forget that it is not their actual body, they paid for it. do you know what i'm trying to say? you will not achieve that perfect look, it is just unrealistic. unless you get surgery, yeah, but you are just endangering yourself. i am trying to make myself proud and make my mum proud as well. i had to pick myself up and tell myself to be strong, because obviously i have a little sister to look after, my mum always believed in me, she always knew i was going to be a supermodel. she had superfaith in me. last year i was really obsessed with looking good, having

the perfect body, you know, but this year it is just like, it is what it is. what i have learned is that family is so important, and forget trying to look like the kardashians. yeah.

best of the sunshine was certainly first thing, shower cloud developed in the letter stages of the morning, some quite heavy and slow moving, if you are outdoing the early evening, worth bearing in mind. 0vernight showers tending to fade, i do clearer skies we do it all again, temperatures are likely to foreclose orjust below temperatures are likely to foreclose or just below freezing, temperatures are likely to foreclose orjust below freezing, blue toes denoting where we see frost first thing in rural areas. chilly started sunday, patching mist using away to sunny spells and scattered showers, once again these could be heavy with

hail and thunder. all change for bank holiday monday, low pressure expected to put in off the atlantic, wet and windy weather arrives through northern ireland, gradually moving into southern scotland, north—west england and wales, perhaps staying showery in the far north and south—east england should stay dry until the end of the afternoon. top ten 7—12 c. —— top temperature. until the end of the afternoon. top

temperature 7—12 c. this is bbc news with the latest headlines. a change in guidance on care homes — from tuesday residents in england will be able to visit relatives without having to self—isolate when they return. india becomes the first country to record 400,000 coronavirus infections in a single day. five people are arrested on suspicion of terror offences, including a sixteen year old boy, as police target three locations across the uk. new research finds that around a thousand rivers are the source of the majority of plastic waste in the ocean. a warning that most of the uk's summer festivals could be called off because they can't get covid