Furious campaigners slam sick YouTube guides on how to perform dangerous home abortions and DIY operations
One abortion guide even instructs viewers on actions they can take during the final months of pregnancy
YOUTUBE is showing sick guides giving women instructions on how to perform dangerous home abortions.
They are among scores of disturbing clips found by a Sun investigation, including graphic DIY circumcisions and cyst removals and erasing tattoos using grinders.
One abortion guide even instructs viewers on actions they can take during the final months of pregnancy. Experts blasted the grim advice and warned women to get proper help.
Imogen Stephens, Medical Director at safe abortion organisation Marie Stopes UK, said it was “worrying” that girls may turn to “quack” abortion clips.
She added: “YouTube giving them a platform is not helpful.
“If a woman is pregnant and doesn’t want to be, we’d encourage her to seek out an NHS-accredited service for advice and potential treatment.”
One guide on YouTube states: “It is always advisable to follow home remedies for abortion than to go with medical proceedings, as surgical treatments always follow up with side effects.”
The sick advice follows The Sun’s revelations on Tonia Rossington, from Skegness, who removed her breast implants with a knife after “researching” the operation on YouTube.
A Sun investigation has unearthed a string of films — many carrying no warning — of people performing dangerous surgery at home.
MPs said “enough was enough” and urged YouTube to remove offensive content sooner.
One four-minute film — without warning — shows a child being circumcised seemingly without anaesthetic.
Music is played to mask the boy’s screams – but viewers can see him writhing in pain during the video, which has been viewed more than 23,000 times since April 2016.
Another clip, seen more than 3.2 million times, shows a man in front of a mirror with a pair of pliers which he uses to extract a back tooth. He then proudly shows it to the camera.
Some of the details are so graphic we have chosen not to print them.
Elsewhere a man, using no anaesthetic or disinfectant, cuts into his foot with a scalpel before jiggling a tendon.
Instructions on removing lipoma tumours, stitches, ingrowing toenails and moles can also be viewed, despite the high risk of scarring and infection.
Potentially fatal cyst removal also features. Kevin Franciosi, 47, from Sunderland, cut one from his thigh with a knife. He then developed an infection and died in 2014.
Advice on injecting Botox fillers is also shown while another clip demonstrates the art of stitching a wound using pig skin. Screengrabs of several videos are shown on this page, although we have obscured graphic images.
YouTube, owned by Google, insists it is not a broadcaster but merely a hosting platform, so cannot be bound by the same laws that regulate TV channels and newspapers.
Net guide could kill you, says Sun Doctor Carol Cooper
THE internet has made experts of everyone. Now, thanks to YouTube, you too can be a DIY surgeon.
This is a desperately hazardous turn of events.
Doing your own op means little or no anaesthetic or sterile technique, often using makeshift instruments.
Those who operate on themselves run the risk of complications including infection, catastrophic bleeding and even death.
It’s not just the procedures that worry me. Knowing which op to do when is what takes a surgeon the most training.
But MP Julian Knight, whose Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee has investigated the company, said: “YouTube has a responsibility to ensure this sort of material doesn’t see the light of day.
"It must be held to the same standard as newspapers and broadcasters. Enough is enough. I congratulate The Sun on highlighting this.”
Digital Minister Margot James was “horrified” at our findings and urged the tech giant to “do more and do it faster” on irresponsible postings.
She said: “These fall into a similar category that the Health Secretary complained about a week ago — guides that facilitate suicide, eating disorders and other self-harm.
“Assisting people in something that may cause them damage is wholly wrong.”
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YouTube said: “Our guidelines prohibit content that’s intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm.
“When flagged videos are in violation of our policies, we work quickly to take action.”
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