September 5, 2008 at 4:37 pm | Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
August 11, 2008 at 8:06 am | 2008 Beijing Olympics, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
The China Anti-Doping Agency (CADA) spent approximately $10 million dollars and six years to create a new state of the art laboratory specifically for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Roughly one quarter of that budget ($2.7 million) was used to purchase 60-80 various laboratory testing instruments. The primary beneficiaries of these purchases were the analytical laboratory equipment manufacturers Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agilent Technologies and Phenomenex (“Drugs at the Starting Line: The Olympics begin with new antidoping lab and measures to keep athletes honest,” August 11).
Stuart P. Cram, strategic marketing vice president at Thermo Fisher, reports that their company has numerous service engineers available 24 hours a day during the Beijing Olympics to maintain uninterrupted and efficient operation of the Thermo Fisher testing equipment. Chinese Anti-Doping Agency purchased several products from their company including:
- (2) Thermo Fisher DFS Sector Field gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) systems;
- (1) Thermo Fisher Delta V isotope ratio mass spectrometer – used to distinguish between “natural and synthetic steroids”;
- (4) Thermo Fisher triple-quadrupole TSQ Quantum Access liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) systems
Agilent Technologies supplies the China Anti-Doping Agency with the majority of their steroid testing and drug detection equipment. Stephen B. Crisp, international business development manager at Agilent, states that Agilent also has technicians available 24/7 to maintain the operational status of Agilent equipment that includes 18 liquid/mass stations and 19 gas/mass stations.
- Agilent 1200 Series LC/MS units
- Agilent 6400 Series triple-quadrupole LC/MS units
- Agilent 6100 Series single-quadrupole LC/MS units
- Agilent 6300 Series ion trap LC/MS
- Agilent 7890A GC/MS units
- (8) unspecified laboratory instrumentation
Read the rest of this entry »
August 5, 2008 at 1:34 pm | 2008 Beijing Olympics, Steroids and Cycling, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Italian cyclist Marta Bastianelli tested positive for a banned stimulant. She tested positive for the diet drug fenfluramine in a doping control conducted by the International Cycling Union (UCI) at the “Under-23 World Championships” in Verbania, Italy on July 5, 2008.
Bastianelli claims she never knowingly ingested a banned substance. She admitted to her obsession with weight control stating “I wanted to lose weight, like any girl.” She consulted with her doctor to find weight loss products that were not on the WADA banned substance list. Her doctor prescribed the drug Benfluorex. Benfluorex is an anti-diabetic drug that improves insulin sensitivity and glycemic control; as such it is often prescribed for weight loss. Benfluorex is not on the WADA banned substance list but it is structurally similar to Fenfluramine (which is listed) Read the rest of this entry »
July 21, 2008 at 2:11 am | Steroids and Cycling, Steroids in Sports, Tour de France
- Posted by Millard Baker |
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The French National Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) has been utlizing a secret new anti-doping test for a previously undetectable performance-enhancing drug during the 2008 Tour de France. Rumors about a test for Mircera started circulating when cyclist Riccardo Ricco failed his doping protocol. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) quickly confirmed the rumors.
WADA gave notice to cyclists competing at the 2008 Tour de France that they were now able to detect the performance enhancing drug Mircera (methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta), a third generation version of erythropoietin (EPO) belonging to the category of drugs known as Continuous Erythropoeitin Receptor Activators (CERA).
Doping experts concerned with the fairness of the doping protocols administered by WADA-accredited labs were quick to raise questions about the new CERA doping detection methods Read the rest of this entry »
July 20, 2008 at 12:43 pm | Steroids and Cycling, Steroids in Sports, Tour de France
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Rant’s Daniel Rosen asked the question “Will it ever be possible to have a Tour de France… that is completely free of doping?” I would answer that with a definitive no – not now, not ever. Professional cycling is an extreme sport that is practically synonymous with doping.
Steroid and doping expert Dr. John Hoberman of the University of Texas wrote an article about the Festina scandal at the 1998 Tour de France for me almost ten years ago. Hoberman thought that the public had finally accepted that the Tour de France during a “definitive outing of the Tour as a virtual pharmacy on wheels.”
The Tour debacle has finally made it acceptable to say in public and without provocation what many have known for a long time, namely, that long-distance cycling has been the most consistently drug-soaked sport of the twentieth century.Â
Unfortunately, we still have not come to terms with an acknowledgement of the scope of doping in cycling. We continue to entertain incredulous stories that doping in the sport is limited to certain generations of riders or specific geographical areas. We still believe in fairy tales that tell us a dope-free Tour de France is possible. It is not. So what should be done about doping in cycling? Read the rest of this entry »
July 16, 2008 at 6:09 pm | Steroids in Society
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Power blogger Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has been called one of the most powerful and influential figures on the internet by TIME Magazine, Wired Magazine and Forbes. Arrington recently identified the secret pharmaceutical weapon that is the “drug of choice” for Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs and executives – modafinil more commonly known by the trade name Provigil (“How Many Silicon Valley Startup Executives Are Hopped Up On Provigil?,” July 15).
But since the main effect of Provigil is to keep you awake and able to concentrate, a lot of people who get their hands on it use it to be able to work longer hours, even though it has not been deemed safe for that kind of use.
Recreational Provigil user testimonials are all over the web. Not only are people able to work with little or no sleep, the drug has the advantage of spurring weight loss and some users report a general mood enhancing side effect. Read the rest of this entry »
July 12, 2008 at 11:42 am | Steroids and Track, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Steeplechase Simon Vroemen has tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Dianabol (metandienone or methandrostenolone) according to Steroid Nation. Vroemen does not know how Dianabol entered his system but suspects it may have been the result of medications he took to treat mononucleosis.
I am always willing to give athletes the benefit of a doubt especially given the lack of fair and reliable doping protocols administered under WADA. But, the statements Vroemen offers in his defense are weak, misleading and wrong.
Simon Vroemen claims that Dianabol would be “counterproductive” for a middle distance runner because it primarily increases muscle mass without a significant increase in strength; furthermore, Vroeman claims Dianabol remains detectable in doping tests for up to nine months after ingested making it unsuitable for any athlete competing in a drug tested competition Read the rest of this entry »
April 13, 2008 at 2:53 am | Steroids and Cycling, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Since doping is not a crime in Germany, German prosecutors sued cyclist Jan Ullrich for fraud based on evidence of the use of banned blood doping and performance-enhancing drugs (“Jan Ullrich draws 1M euro fine in doping fraud case,” April 12).
Disgraced former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich is to pay out a million euro fine to end a fraud case which German prosecutors have been investigating, Focus news magazine reported on its Web site Saturday.
Prosecutors accused the 1997 Tour de France winner of taking performance-enhancing drugs, leading under German law to fraud charges against the 34-year-old on the basis he deceived the public, sponsors and his team.
The United States does not have laws that specifically criminalize doping in sports. However, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990, passed as a direct result of doping scandals in sports, criminalizes the non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids. One of the primary objectives for the act has been to combat “cheating” in sports although it has been largely ineffective for this purpose. Instead, the federal government has had some recent success using perjury laws to prosecute athletes who use steroids. Maybe sports fraud prosecutions will join perjury as an additional way of making examples out of “immoral” athletes.
April 12, 2008 at 8:49 pm | Steroids and Track, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Angel Guillermo Heredia was a major steroid source for elite track and field athletes. He has been working with federal investigators for several years; he has disclosed the names of at least a dozen elite track athletes who won Olympic medals and World Chamionships as well as another dozen elite track stars who have not won Olympic medals (“Witness in Track Doping Case Ready to Name Big Names,” April 13).
Among his clients, Mr. Heredia identified 12 athletes who had won a combined 26 Olympic medals and 21 world championships. Four of the 12 athletes, including Ms. Jones, had been named and barred from competition for illicit drug use. Eight of the 12 — notably, the sprinter Maurice Greene — have never been previously linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
Angel Heredia is a Mexican national who lived in Laredo, Texas and utilized his family connections in Mexico to obtain steroids and other pharmaceuticals for athletes. Heredia explains how easy it is for athletes to use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs and avoid detection. Read the rest of this entry »
