THE parents of a young Marine Cadet who died after taking anabolic steroids have welcomed an MP’s bid to highlight the dangers of the freely available drugs.

Speaking in the Commons, Rochford and Southend East Tory MP James Duddridge called on health ministers to reveal what was being done to warn against trying to boost sporting performance by taking potentially deadly steroids.

He posed the question in the Commons after the death, last month, of Matthew Dear, 17, of Hamstel Road, Southend, who suffered brain swelling after getting black market drugs.

Health minister Dawn Primarolo told the MP the Government’s anti-drug campaign, Frank, included steroid misuse warnings.

She said: “Frank makes it clear the misuse of steroids is dangerous and can lead to some potentially fatal medical problems. The harmful short and long-term effects of anabolic steroid use are also described in the department’s publication Dangerousness Of Drugs.”

Matthew’s parents, Chris and Tina, are campaigning to get steroids upgraded to drug category B. They are currently category C.

Mr Dear, 43, said: “It’s brilliant the MP has raised the subject in the house. What we really need now is for steroids to be raised to category B.”

His wife, 42, added: “I welcome the questions Mr Duddridge has asked because it’s something that people don’t think about that much. People understand the dangers of other drugs but don’t realise what steroids can do.

“People go to gyms and think anything they get there must be healthy. We need to make people realise it is legal to buy steroids and legal to take them, but illegal to sell them. People can buy them on the internet. That needs to change.”