But over a year later, the Office of the Albany County District Attorney continues to prominently display Victor Martinez’ name and picture on its website in a diagram of Operation Which Doctor. He is listed with 23 other individuals directly involved in the Signature Pharmacy and longevity clinic steroid scandals. However, I believe Victor is the only individual listed who has not been indicted. But no where is he identified as an “unindicted co-conspirator” allowing visitors to make their own uninformed assumptions.
“Bigger, Stronger, Faster,” which will inevitably be described as reminiscent of Michael Moore because the director, Chris Bell, has a strong and humorous voice and he’s out to explore nothing less than the American dream, through the lens of the bodybuilding craze that made he and his brothers take steroids like they were candy. Since we were full up at the inn already, we squeezed it in to the Forrest at 5pm on Friday, right up against the March into March.
The Los Angeles Police Department discovered former bodybuilding cosmetic surgeon Bruce Nadler, MD and his wife dead as the result of gunshot wounds on Monday, February 4, 2008. Authorities believe it is an apparent murder-suicide perpetrated by Bruce Nadler.
Bruce Nadler called himself the “world’s strongest plastic surgeon.” He was probably the best known cosmetic surgeon catering to amateur and professional bodybuilders. He had performed over 700 gynecomastia surgeries in his career; “gyno” is a side effect of anabolic steroid use when antiaromatase and/or estrogen antagonists are not use concurrently.
After retiring from the practice of medicine in August 2005, Dr. Nadler, who called himself “the world’s strongest plastic surgeon,” wrote the “The Nip Tuck Workout: Exercise through the Eyes of a Plastic Surgeon” and subsequently moved with his wife to Los Angeles to reinvent himself in a new career as personal trainer with the opening of Nip Tuck Fitness LA in Beverly Hills.
Retired plastic surgeon and certified personal trainer Bruce J. Nadler M.D. has brought his Plastic Synergy training system to Los Angeles. As stated in his book, “The Nip Tuck Workout - Exercise through the Eyes of a Plastic Surgeon,” Dr. Nadler has created an exercise program based on the plastic surgical principles of proportion and symmetry. It combines careful analysis with an individualized exercise prescription.
Bruce Nadler, MD retired after the New York State Board of Professional Medical Conduct charged him with 29 specifications of professional misconduct in thirteen patients according to public records. Rather than fight the charges, Nadler submitted and consent agreement and voluntarily relinquished his medical license.
Failure to obtain and/or note an adequate and complete medical history and/or history of current complaint from patient.
Failure to perform and/or note a complete and appropriate physical examination of patient.
Failure to obtain and/or note appropriate and medically indicated laboratory studies on patient including: prolactin, TSH, LH, hepatic and renal function, and assays for estrogen levels and HCG.
Failure to properly diagnose patient’s condition and/or rule out underlying disorders.
Inappropriately and without medical idnication and/or justification, prescribing and/or maintaining patient on various medications.
Failure to maintain a medical record for patient in accordance with accepted medical standards which accurately reflects his care and treatment of the patient.
Bruce Nadler’s beliefs regarding anabolic steroids and bodybuilding were controversial for physician. He explained his own steroid use and his willingness to prescribe steroids and growth hormone to his patients in an interview with Testosterone Nation:
I’m my own test laboratory in that respect because, in the last two years, I’ve been taking 6 to 8 IUs a week of growth hormone, and I alternate between 200 mg a week of deca and 200 mg of testosterone cypionate the next week. Instead of going super physiological, I believe in just going to maximum natural levels to that of a man in his twenties. In this way, there are no side effects.
Nadler was also critical of the steroid hysteria in the U.S. and the political posturing surrounding anabolic steroids:
I’ve always felt that politicians always have to make the majority of the electorate think that they’re doing something? So they inconvenience a small, unimportant group, like bodybuilders. They have no idea what they’re talking about. Somebody hands them a speech, and they go! They took something that could have been done safely and sent it to the black market and all of the inherent dangers that go along with dealing with that element. Will they ever be legal again? I hope so.
Isaac Hinds reports that 36-year old amateur bodybuilder Erik Fromm was found dead at his home in Wisconsin Monday night (February 4, 2008). The cause of death has not been determined. Isaac is in touch with Erik Fromm’s sister and will report details as they become available.
Erik Fromm was a popular amateur bodybuilder who consistently finished in the top ten at NPC bodybuilding championships. His last competition was the 2004 NPC Nationals Bodybuilding contest. He suffered major setbacks in 2004 with a torn bicep and a torn pec but wanted to return to competition to obtain his pro card.
So we all agree that steroids are bad, right? They’ve brought suspicion and shame.
Then it got a little better. Dr. Gupta starts talking about the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids in HIV patients. He talks about the therapeutic uses of steroids.
He seems impressed that steroids can be good but then discusses how the therapeutic uses for steroids were “hijacked” by athletes and especially bodybuilders. Blame the bodybuilders. Parties responsible for the hijacking include the “Arnoldistas” or followers of Arnold Schwarzenegger who, according to Shaun Assael, created a steroid “religion.”
He blamed talked about the “Underground Steroid Handbook” but didn’t even mention the author, Dan Duchaine!
Then Dr. Gupta’s credibility takes a major hit when he talks about growth hormone.
Then there’s human growth hormone (HGH), derived from the pituitary gland.
HGH derived from pituitary glands has not been used in medicine in decades. It is all recombinant human growth hormone nowadays.
But that hope was dashed when I learned that when taking anabolic steroids, “there’s always the risk of, you know, heart weakening and liver tumors.” And then I [again] learned Lyle Alzado blamed his brain cancer on steroid abuse.
Gupta asks what can be done about a good drug gone bad? The first thing we should stop doing is stop associating Lyle Alzado’s brain cancer with his steroid abuse. Why do we persist in repeating this again and again with the standard disclaimer that there is no medical evidence to support it?
Masters bodybuilding competitor Mark J. Sangiuliano (aka Marc Sangiuliano) was arrested and charged with “second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance” identified as anabolic steroids. MSNBC reports that Marc was arrested by federal authorities; however, the ABC television affiliate in Louiseville, Kentucky WHAS-TV reports that deputies from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department arrested Sangiuliano at his home in St. Matthews, Kentucky. Court records show an arraignment scheduled for February 5, 2008 in the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Mark J. Sangiuliano.
Sangiuliano told WHAS-TV that the steroids were for personal use only and that the trafficking charged was related to fertility medications and had nothing to do with bodybuilding; he also stated that he could not afford to obtain from a physician:
The whole thing revolves around me and my wife trying to get pregnant. It has nothing to do with athletics or steroids.
Bodybuilders who use anabolic steroids are very familiar with this problem; it is widely recognized and widely discussed in the bodybuilding community. Various doctors, writers and bodybuilders have offered possible solutions. It is accepted within many bodybuilding circles that ASIH can be largely minimized if not completely avoided.
But nowhere in the article is their any suggestion that the ASIH can be avoided or treated. It is not necessarily the fault of the author; the medical profession does not recognize the treatment of ASIH; the government does not recognize treatment of ASIH. Consequently they do not approve of treatment for the side effects related to the cessation of anabolic steroids.
This just baffles me! Why would the side effects that come along with stopping steroid use, especially if they are as dangerous as claimed, be left untreated especially if that treatment is readily available? I mean it is no secret that Taylor Hooton’s parents and doctors took him off of anabolic steroids and within 6 weeks he committed suicide. Texas has passed legislation claiming “clinical depression [occurs] when steroid use is stopped.” Kirk Brower, M.D. has told Congress during the baseball hearings that “depressive episodes and suicide attempts are most likely to occur within three months of stopping AAS use.”
If there is a treatment to prevent or eliminate the side effects associated with cessation of anabolic steroids, it should be promoted and encouraged by the government and medical community. But why isn’t it?
(1) The steroid prohibition movement is about morality and not about health. To paraphrase Radley Balko, it is better to let a steroid user suffer (and even die) rather than administer a medical treatment that could eliminate steroid side effects and remove threat of suicide. The war against steroids has taken on the characteristics of the overarching war on drugs. Balko explains the drug policy:
This is the mentality of your modern drug warrior. We’re fighting drug use not because it’s dangerous or harmful, but because they believe drug use is, in and of itself, immoral.
Today’s drug war isn’t about saving lives, it’s about saving souls.
(2) If the side effects of steroids are successfully treated, it would encourage steroid users to continue using steroids. This is probably correct, but is that a worse outcome than making steroid users suffer for making a supposedly immoral choice? The Office Of National Drug Control Policy has a strong moral philosophy and opposition to harm reduction when it comes to drug use.
These so-called “harm reduction” strategies are poor public policy because their underlying philosophy involves giving up on those who can successfully recover from drug addiction.
Let’s abandon this morality play and truly focus on the health consequences of anabolic steroid use.
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new recombinant growth hormone manufactured by the Canadian drug company, Cangene, and designed for subcutaneous injection. The brand name for Cangene’s injectable growth hormone is Accretropin. Accretropin has an identical amino acid sequence to natural human growth hormone produced in the pituitary. It was approved for treatment of children with short stature and Turner’s Syndrome (a chromosomal disorder in girls resulting in short stature and infertility). Cangene submitted the new drug application (NDA) to the FDA in July 2006.
Tercica announced that they just started a Phase II clinical trial examining the efficacy of IGF-1 stacked with human growth hormone (GH). Unfortunately for bodybuilders and athletes, the outcome measure in this study is not performance enhancement, increases in lean muscle mass, or loss in body fat.
The objective is to measure “height velocity” and safety in the treatment of short stature in children. The trial will examing the efficacy of three different stacks of GH + IFG-1 and compare them with GH alone (GH monotherapy).
Potential of GH/IGF-1 Combination Product: The combination product will be studied in children with short stature not associated with growth hormone deficiency, who also have low IGF-1 levels. A potential cause of short stature in this group of patients could be a suboptimal IGF-1 secretion in response to growth hormone stimulation alone. Pre-clinical studies suggest that co-administration of GH and IGF-1 may increase specific growth responses greater than growth hormone alone. Therefore, Tercica believes that treatment with a combination of both GH and IGF-1 may be superior to monotherapy of growth hormone alone in a subpopulation of children with low IGF-1 and short stature not associated with growth hormone deficiency.
Tercica is the biotechnology company that is the first to bring FDA-approved recombinant insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) to the marketplace. The brand name for IGF-1 is Increlex and the generic name is mecasermin.
It is interesting that discussion of the use of growth hormone and IGF-1 in athletes for performance enhancing purposes revolves around the extremely dangerous side effects of these drugs; efforts to prevent GH use in sports is often based on the dangers of the drugs and potential public health crisis they may cause.
Yet a news story about the therapeutic use of growth hormone and IGF-1 in children gets buried in the news.
Sylvester Stallone is interviewed in Time Magazine as part of his media tour to promote his latest Rambo movie. He continues to defend his use of growth hormone and explains that it is not an anabolic steroid.
HGH [human growth hormone] is nothing. Anyone who calls it a steroid is grossly misinformed.
Testosterone to me is so important for a sense of well-being when you get older. Everyone over 40 years old would be wise to investigate it because it increases the quality of your life. Mark my words. In 10 years, it will be over the counter.
