The New York Times highlights the “testosterone loophole” in anti-doping tests reporting on a recent study that finally explains the phenomena that allows some athletes to get away with indiscriminate use of exogenous testosterone. This is the same study that has been discussed in the blogosphere for over a month on various doping and steroid-related websites including MESO-Rx, Steroid Report, Trust But Verify and Rant Your Head Off. But the New York Times story will provide mainstream exposure to the weakness in current doping protocols implemented by WADA using the testosterone:epitestosterone (T:E) ratio test (”Some Athletes’ Genes Help Outwit Doping Test,” April 30).
Researchers have long known that some men, Asians in particular, seemed to be able to take the drugs without getting caught, although no one had identified the cause of the phenomenon. Without gene testing, there is no way to know whether any athletes have exploited this doping loophole, but Dr. Catlin says he suspects some athletes discovered their invulnerability by accident and took advantage of it.
Men with the gene deletion still metabolize testosterone, Dr. Schulze says. But, she adds, she does not know where the hormone goes. “We have no idea,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
The gene in question adds a chemical, glucuronide, to testosterone. That converts it from a substance that dissolves in oil into one that dissolves in water and urine.
Athletes with a specific gene deletion (UGT2B17 homozygous deletion/deletiongenotype) are genetically predisposed to pass the testosterone doping test.
The results were unambiguous: the test worked for most of the men, showing that they had taken the drug. But 17 of the men tested negative. Their urine seemed fine, with no excess testosterone even though the men clearly had taken the drug.
It was, researchers say, a striking demonstration of a genetic discovery. Those 17 men can build muscles with testosterone, they respond normally to the hormone, but they are missing both copies of a gene used to convert the testosterone into a form that dissolves in urine. The result is that they may be able to take testosterone with impunity.
The New York Times also reports that the “prevalence in other groups is not known.” But this is inaccurate. As reported in MESO-Rx last month, there is a lot of data on other groups involving the UGT2B17 gene.
(Thanks to Rehan Jalali of TSRF for alerting me to the Times article.)
When Robert Sepe brutally murdered his girlfriend with a baseball bat, the media immediately speculated that anabolic steroids caused him to do it. The apparent reasoning was that the crime was so horrific that only an anabolic steroid user with roid rage would be capable of such violence. The “brutality of the crime” coupled with Sepe’s ownership of a supplement company apparently prompted the Journal News to write about a possible link between steroid abuse and murder.
New information suggests that Sepe was strongly against illegal and recreational drug use and likely even anti-steroid. He even abstained from alcohol and coffeee (”Cortlandt slay suspect told cops of ’surreal’ events,” April 29).
In discussing weighlifting, he went into great detail about how various vitamins and supplements could affect the body. He said he hated drugs and never used illegal substances such as cocaine and marijuana. He didn’t even drink coffee or alcohol, or eat meat, though he had once tried venison, he told them.
But he did admit to using prescription drugs Elavil and Zoloft to treat psychopathology and an undisclosed blood pressure medication.
During a five hour standoff, he started out by lying about his identify and eventually opened up and talked about some serious problems he said he was having. He told police he had been suffering from panic attacks, depression and insomnia in recent months, and that he was taking two psychotropic medications, Elavil and Zoloft, along with medicine to control high blood pressure; he mentioned he had one pill in his pocket. He claimed the various drugs were “contradicting each other” and that his psychologists and internists “didn’t know what each other was prescribing.”
Zoloft and roid rage? It doesn’t quite have the same sensationalistic impact as steroid roid rage; it is kind like prednisone roid rage. Yet there are various websites demonizing Zoloft suggesting it can cause normal invidividuals to turn into “homicidal maniacs“!
It seems that there is a natural tendency to ascribe a single cause for senseless events like suicide and murder. Anabolic steroids are the demon of choice in such events irrespective of the actual potential causes of such behavior. But if the media wants to blame steroids for the violent crime of Robert Sepe, the actual use of anabolic steroids by the perpetrator is a prerequisite for this unsubstantiated claim. This is unfortunate for the anti-steroid crusaders seeking to capitalize on the current trend of steroid hysteria in the media and popular culture.
Attempts to eliminate anabolic steroid from sports in an effort to preserve athletes as role models for our children is a failed strategy. The real problem lies with a society that worships athletes as role models. Manufacturing a moral issue out of steroid use in professional sports is hypocritical when other “immoral” behavior by athletes is not subject to the same media scrutiny, Congressional hearings, and multi-million dollar federal investigations.
Yet performance-enhancing drugs and the “culture of steroids” is seen as evil and immoral. The demonization of steroids in sports is absurd in the face of such hypocrisy.
NPC Bodybuilder Dan Puckett was found dead in his apartment on November 8, 2007 at the age of 22. There was immediate speculation that Puckett died from the use of anabolic steroids based on the fact that he was a bodybuilder and furthered by the rampant steroid hysteria in the media. This week, autopsy results reveal that Puckett’s unfortunate death was due to “natural causes” dispelling claims that he died from steroid use.
Dan Puckett was a collegiate bodybuilding champion, winning the 2006 NPC Teen & Collegiate National Championships, and a senior marketing major at the University of Alabama.
House, M.D., the medical television drama, discussed “roid rage” as a side effect of steroids last night in an episode entitled “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” The House medical team attributed the “roid rage” to the catabolic steroid prednisone. “Roid rage” is not a medical term, but a term arising from popular culture.
Even though aggression in anabolic steroids users is rare, the producers of House decided to promote an even less plausible case of “roid rage” (arising from prednisone use). Then again, the whole point of the television show is to explore rare medical cases and consequently rare side effects. So, perhaps the reference to roid rage was consistent with the goals of the show rather than a capitulation to the current pop culture fascination with anabolic steroids and roid rage and related undocumented or overstated side effects of steroids?
In 2001, New Line optioned the rights to make a movie adaptation of Chemical Pink, a novel about sexual fetishism and the world of female bodybuilding written by Katie Arnoldi. David Fincher was supposed to direct it and Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk was supposed to write the screenplay; however, both dropped out of the movie project and the future of the movie seemed uncertain.
Gene Hwang reports that a new team is moving forward with the Chemical Pink movie project.
Arnoldi eventually wrote the screenplay herself and music video director Jonas Akerlund will now direct. The latest is that he and producer Ted Field are now looking for someone to play Aurora Johnson, the main character - an aspiring female bodybuilder who moves to southern California to pursue her dream.
Patricia Arquette, Rosario Dawson and Jessical Biel were considered for the role of Aurora. And while the prospect of these actresses gaining 15-20 lbs of muscle would be quite appealing for fans of female muscle, the big name Hollywood actresses all rejected the role of Aurora. It is unclear whether the role was rejected due to the disturbing nature of steroid-related side effects and sexual fetishism portrayed in the screenplay or the daunting task of trying to look like a female bodybuilder in six months.
According to the Genextras blog, it now looks like the producers are searching for a real female bodybuilder to play the role of Aurora.
Arnoldi tells us they now plan to cast a “real girl” instead. They are even talking about an American Idol-style reality show in which Arnoldi, Akerlund and Field would go around the country auditioning female bodybuilders for the part - what Arnoldi calls “In Search of Aurora”. That could mean an amazing opportunity for a female bodybuilder to play the lead in a Hollywood movie. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more…
This is certain to be an interesting movie. I think Testosterone Nation best described Chemical Pink when the suggested it could have originated from the perverted mind of steroid guru Dan Duchaine:
If Dan Duchaine had been a writer of fiction, this is the book he’d have written.
Filmmaker Christopher Bell interviewed his good friend Muscletech spokesperson Christian Boeving about anabolic steroids for the critically acclaimed documentary “Bigger Stronger Faster*”. Boeving spoke honestly about his use of anabolic steroids. When CNN aired excerpts from the documentary shortly after its screening at the Sundance Film Festival, Muscletech fired released the bodybuilding and fitness model from his contract.
Muscletech apparently has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to steroids. You certainly can’t talk about steroids if you are sponsored by Muscletech. Muscletech allows you to publicly talk about quite a few things (like masturbating to Christina Lindley’s Maxim photo spread, making multiple references to Lindley’s ample breasts or alluding to Lindlay and microphone fellatio whileinterviewing Christina Lindley) without consequence but talking about steroids publicly crosses the line. Such a public admission of steroid use might indicate to consumers that the muscular physique of a sponsored bodybuilding athlete is not solely the result of Muscletech supplementation.
MESO-Rx learned in January 2008 that the federal government is mounting a case against Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) on charges of conspiracy to illegally distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. The alleged conspiracy includes APS’ major shareholders Samuel Kelley and Jason Kelley; Brett Branch, an APS sales rep and owner of Infinite Health in Eaton, Colorado; and Colorado physicians Kenneth Olds, M.D., Kelly Tucker, M.D. and Scott Corliss, M.D. Scott Corliss is the only co-conspirator who has been indicted to date.
According to the Mobile Press-Register, physician Scott Corliss pleaded guilty for his role in the steroid scandal and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in its case against Applied Pharmacy Services. Corliss was scheduled to be sentenced last week, but Assistant U.S Attorney Donna Dobbins from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Mobile requested a postponement to pursue additional indictments in the APS investigation.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade agreed Thursday to postpone the sentencing hearing for a Colorado doctor who pleaded guilty to a steroids-related charge earlier this year. As part of his plea bargain, Dr. Scott A. Corliss agreed to assist the investigation…
“This multi-jurisdictional investigation is ongoing and the United States expects that charges will be filed against other co-conspirators in the near future,” the motion stated.
APS was raided in December 2006 under the direction of the Office of Albany District Attorney David Soares. However, the federal investigation and alleged conspiracy charges are separate from the New York state investigation.
Mr. Jacobs, 35, said, “I sold steroids and a significant amount of growth hormone to Matt Lehr.” He said Mr. Lehr’s purchases totaled tens of thousands of dollars from spring 2006 to spring 2007, significantly larger quantities than could be for personal use.
At one point, Mr. Jacobs said, Mr. Lehr agreed to have boxes of raw steroid powder from China shipped to Mr. Lehr’s house in Georgia. Mr. Jacobs said he asked his former friend to do this because too many packages headed to his Plano house were being seized by U.S. Customs.
David Jacobs has previously denied providing federal prosecutors with the names of customers who bought steroids from him stressing that evidence and associations with Lehr were established independent of his cooperation. He has repeatedly been advised by his attorney to avoid publicly naming names. Why did Jacobs name Matt Lehr this weekend?
Mr. Jacobs said he was speaking out now because he was angry about Mr. Coggins’ statements last week to The News.
“We have been told by the prosecutors that they do not intend to bring charges against Matt Lehr in connection with their ongoing steroid investigation,” Mr. Coggins said Wednesday.
“It’s an issue of right and wrong,” Mr. Jacobs said. “I’m taking responsibility for my actions. And I’m not blaming people for my mistakes. I’m not going to lay down while other people attack my character and my integrity and accuse me of extortion and lies and making up information. It’s time for Matt to be a man.”
Paul Coggins, Matt Lehr’s attorney, claims that David Jacobs is providing false information in exchange for prosecutorial leniency in sentencing; Coggins also told the New York Times that Jacobs tried to extort money from Matt Lehr.
“He threatened Matt and said you have to pay my attorney’s fees or I am going to end your career,” Coggins said in a telephone interview on Saturday. He said Lehr met Jacobs when they were bodybuilders.
“Jacobs saw Matt as a guy with a lot of money and Matt declined to pay his fees,” Coggins added.
Coggins, the former United States attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said he had represented Lehr for three months. “We are confident that the more the feds look at Jacobs, the less credible of a source of information he becomes,” Coggins said.
It will be interesting to see how Matt Lehr’s attorney responds to David Jacobs’ latest allegations along with evidence of significant financial links between Lehr and Jacobs.
If you catch the Tribeca screening, I strongly encourage you to take the time to meet with director Christopher Bell and co-producers Tamsin Rawady and Alex Buono.
“Bigger Stronger Faster*” opens today for the New York City premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival for the first of four screenings at the festival.
Sat, Apr 26, 9:00PM
Tishman Auditorium at The New School
, a novel about sexual fetishism and the world of female bodybuilding written by 
