The University of Iowa scientist, Jason Galpin, told CBS the bodega sample did not appear to contain a peptide. In his words, "It does not look anything like a peptide." Futurism reports this accurately.

CBS says Galpin found phenylacetic acid, which he described as a filler used in fragrances and lip balms. CBS gives no proportion.

"Chock full" is Futurism's phrase, and nothing in the CBS report measures how much was there. The amphetamine link is also Futurism's addition. It is accurate chemistry, since phenylacetic acid is a regulated precursor for making amphetamine and methamphetamine. It says nothing about what was done with this vial or what it would do to someone who injected it. Nobody suggests the bodega was cooking meth. The detail does make a better headline than lip balm.

Carl Ross, who directs development at the University of Iowa's Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing, grew 13 colonies from the bodega sample. He told CBS that injecting it would put bacteria under the skin, where they could multiply.

CBS reports a count, not a range of species. "Various" implies several kinds of bacteria, and no species were reported. The underlying finding stands. A vial that grows anything at all is not sterile, and a sterile injectable is the one thing that cannot be negotiated.

CBS tested three products. The two bought online were consistent with a basic retatrutide standard Galpin made in the lab. CBS notes that this standard is not the same as the drug in Lilly's trials, and it reports no amounts against the label.

Futurism mentions only the bodega vial. A reader would conclude that bootleg retatrutide is perfume acid and bacteria. The CBS result is more useful and more uncomfortable. Two of three products contained something resembling the drug, and they were sold with no medical oversight by a clinic and a gym. Matching a basic standard does not establish dose, purity, sterility or safety. Lilly told CBS that a single test is a snapshot and that third party testing does not make an illegal product safe.

CBS describes three purchases and one contaminated vial. It reports no illness from these products.

The risk is real and the inference is reasonable. A nonsterile injection carries a known infection risk. Harm from this vial, however, was not observed. The CBS sample is three products, one test each.

Wired bought four peptides from a vendor called INDR Labs at a Brooklyn bodega for $376.20 (retatrutide, BPC-157, PT-141 and NAD+) and sent them for testing through Finnrick, a company that brokers independent peptide tests. None of the four contained the active ingredient on its label. Heavy metals and endotoxins were low, and Wired concluded the vials likely were not actively harmful. A separate buyer had two more INDR retatrutide vials tested at another lab, which could not positively identify the contents.

Wired never describes a slurry, and the lab did not try to identify what was there. The testing lab's chief executive told Wired the test is a label claim analysis that runs a sample against a standard for the compound it is supposed to be. A failed match shows the vial is not what the label says. It cannot say what the vial is. Wired raised mislabeling and degradation (peptides that are not refrigerated break down) as possibilities. Futurism also skips the low endotoxin result, which cuts against its "your health" framing for those four vials.