STEROID campaigners have warned of hidden dangers lurking in some herbal remedies.

The move comes after tests carried out for Which? magazine found creams sold in some Chinese remedy shops were laced with potentially dangerous steroids.

Two out of five creams sold as treatments for eczema were found to contain prescription-only corticosteroids, which can cause bruising and thinning of the skin, and increase vulnerability to infection.

Middlesbrough campaigner Jan Fairbridge, who runs Group Action into Steroid Prescribing (Gasp), said she was shocked at the findings.

She said: "It is quite frightening, particularly as a lot of people now are wary of using steroids and are looking for alternatives. If they use herbal creams and think they are safe they will be quite shocked to find out they have got steroids in as well.

"They won't be doing themselves any favours."

She said they had heard a number of horror stories over the effects of steroid creams, including one where a cream was used to treat a baby's nappy rash, but ended up making hairs grow on the baby's bottom.

In another case, she said, a Pakistani man found his skin going white when he used a cream to treat eczema.

She said: "If you cut yourself badly and go to hospital it can be difficult to stitch the skin of someone who has been using steroids, because it grows so thin and loses its elasticity, and even little cuts can bleed a lot.

"People think they will try something else, but if they are going to get more or less the same effects, it is scary.

"A lot of people nowadays want to use alternative medicines, and if they think they are buying something relatively safe they are going to come down to earth with a bump."

Which? said it was illegal to supply the steroids found in the creams, and it was passing its evidence on to the Medicines Control Agency (MCA).

The MCA is now backing proposals to regulate herbal remedies, some of which are exempt from licensing, as well as ensuring consumers are given information about possible side effects.