The fact remains, however, that synthetic designer steroids are considered unapproved new drugs, and are NOT covered by DSHEA as legal dietary supplements…
Andro, norandro etc were covered by DSHEA because you could find them in most animals, and hence in the food supply. No animals, plants, etc naturally produce DMT, Epistane, methyl, 1-4ADD, etc etc.
It should be noted that Quincy’s new sponsor IBE disagrees since other supplement companies selling it (everyone else is doing it). Quincy Taylor also states that Epistane is legal and notes that steroids are not sold in supplement stores and supplements are not sold in pharmacies.
A legal supplement sold over the counter at many fine supplement stores. Funny my pharmacy never sold epistane, haladrol, phera or any of those. I’ve never seen any of those in any pharmacy. Hmmm I only seen to find them sold legally at supplement stores. So if I go out on the street with Haladrol and get pulled over will I be arrested? This is a foolish conversation and this is where it ends. That’s my answer.
Major bodybuilding websites like Flexonline.com and Bodybuilding.com (and MESO-Rx too) all erroneously reported that Ms. Olympia Iris Kyle was disqualified from the 2008 Ms. International female bodybuilding contest in Columbus last month. (Iris was NOT disqualified; she actually placed 7th place just out of the money.) Ruth Silverman from Iron Man Magazine fairly criticizes the internet rumor mill.
A text message from a friend wanted to know what was up with Iris being disqualified… It was reported on Bodybuilding.com and by Shawn Perine at FlexOnline…
I couldn’t help marveling at the human capacity to believe something just because someone said it on the Internet—and to hear only certain key words.
We humbly apologize to our readers and particularly to Iris Kyle for the misinformation.
Iris Kyle appeared on Pro Bodybuilding Weekly last night to discuss the controversy surrounding her seventh place finish at the Ms. International contest. We hoped she would have insight on the reasons she was undeservingly dropped to seventh place.
I absolutely can not, at this point, really tell you what happened… I’m still quite puzzled. From the judges standpoint, I have received no feedback leaving me with… thousands of unanswered questions to this day. I made a couple of calls… but I couldn’t get through to who I would love to speak to.
It was quite disappointing that the judges were reluctant to offer specific feedback to Iris regarding their controversial decision. In absence of this feedback, Iris addressed the suggestions that “bumps” on her body were responsible for her placing.
I rather would have seen after the first round that one of the judges come up to me and say, look we have made a decision that based on reviewing your physique we think we need to pull you out of the show I could respect that and walk away with my head even higher and it’s still high… The IFBB should have stepped in and made their call and not allowed me to finish the show.
We agree with Iris. If the IFBB were trying to make an example out Iris for having bumps on her glutes, they should have either disqualified her or placed her last.
Later in the radio broadcast, Larry Pepe interviewed Sandy Ranalli, head IFBB judge at the Ms. International contest. She confirmed that the bumps were responsible for Iris Kyle’s placing referring to them as “distortions in her physique.”
Her shoulders were a little bit you know distorted. There were distortions in her glute area.. At this level of competition, [there is] not a big difference between athletes, those things come into play… It was the distortion and not trying to figure out what it was.
The big question is why the IFBB felt the need to knock Iris Kyle out of the money when, in our opinion, the slight bumps did NOT distract or take away from her Ms. Olympia caliber-physique. Furthermore, if the bumps were such a distracting or grotesque “distortion,” why did Iris still place ahead of so many other competitors. We are only left to speculate…
Iris refuses to allow this to get her down and she is ready to move past the controversy:
I’m a true champ, so it’s not going to get me down. I’m going to keep plugging away.
It has been reported that IFBB Pro Bodybuilders who competed in the 2008 Arnold Classic were required for the first time to sign a contract subjecting them to random drug testing. Jim Lorimer, the promoter and co-founder of the Arnold Sports Festival, told male bodybuilding competitors in an athlete’s meeting that the IFBB implemented a new drug testing policy in January 2008.
In previous years, IFBB pro bodybuilders have agreed to IFBB Professional League Rules that assert the “Pro League has power and authority to conduct drug testing at designated events.”
However, Jim Lorimer confirmed last week that the IFBB will act upon that authority this year by implementing random drug testing.
Jim Lorimer told the athletes that every one of the over 30 sports federations competing in the Arnold Sports Festival has a testing protocol including the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB). Lorimer discusses the existing “amateur” protocol in the IFBB but also announced that in January 2008 the IFBB has implemented a testing protocol in the IFBB Professional League to “protect integrity and future of the sport.” The testing was implemented in response to other professional sports being “killed by the publicity” surrounding doping. Details of the IFBB’s new testing protocol were not revealed only that “there will be some testing throughout the coming year.”
The IFBB is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) Code. The president of the IFBB, Rafael Santonja, has been active in WADA meetings and oversees IFBB Anti-Doping Rules administered at the IFBB Amateur level. These doping controls are said to conform to provisions of the WADA code. These same doping controls have not been administered in the Professional League.
It is highly unlikely that any attempt at testing, even periodic random testing, would target anabolic steroids and the exhaustive list of performance enhancing drugs listed in the WADA Prohibited Substance List.
Further details will be posted as they become available.
Elite Fitness published an article today discussing the implications of Liberty Media’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Bodybuilding.com:
Many people have already heard that the world’s largest bodybuilding company, bodybuilding.com, sold a huge controlling stake to Liberty Media, parent of QVC, for $100 million dollars. However, what some people don’t know is that there are those who are panicking for various reasons and some even believe that the sale could cause the sport of bodybuilding to die off!
I was one of the people panicking about the implications for professional bodybuilding. When there are changes in ownership, particular when a closely held private company is acquired by a publicly traded conglomerate, there are often changes in strategy and management.
So, within hours of the January 7, 2008 acquisition announcement, I contacted Ryan DeLuca, the CEO and founder of Bodybuilding.com to clear the air. DeLuca granted me an interview (which was published on Muscletime) the same day. Ryan assured me that the Bodybuilding.com strategy included increased involvement in the sport of pro bodybuilding:
[Bodybuilding.com’s involvement in pro bodybuilding] will continue to increase. We are 100% dedicated to giving back and helping the sport of bodybuilding to grow and prosper. If anything, this deal will only help us with that mission!
In spite of Ryan DeLuca’s refutations of changes in strategy as I confirmed in my Muscletime interview, Elite Fitness points out how the rumors persisted.
Strewn across Internet sites and forum boards are claims that bodybuilding.com must remove anything even remotely controversial from their site as part of the deal. That means anything to do with steroids and other hardcore bodybuilding topics must be axed in order to suit Liberty Media.
The change in the Bodybuilding.com forums that fueled many of the rumors was the relocation of the “steroid forum” to a sub-forum of the “IFBB section.”
When asked of any changes he had noticed on the site, Hawryliw said, “The biggest change I have seen was the steroid section being moved to the IFBB section. They claim it was to help to keep “noobs” (beginning users) from asking stupid questions. We all know the real reason was to take the steroid section off the front page to avoid any negative light. Ironically, steroids were prohibited from being talked about in the IFBB section before. Now, steroids are a sub-section.”
This was noticed several weeks ago by Anthony Roberts (a few days in advance of the acquisition announcement by Liberty Media).
But there is a big difference between censorship (deletion) and a reorganization of the forums of a message board. Elite Fitness further confirmed that Liberty Media has not asked Bodybuilding.com to delete controversial steroid content from their forums.
And he told me what is really going on with the issue of controversial material being moved or removed due to the Liberty Media deal mentioning, “This is not true. They have not asked us to remove anything or change anything on our site. Of course, with more national media watching what we are doing than ever before, we have to be extra careful with what we do or say so we don’t end up on Dateline.”
Unfortunately, it is not raining steroids, but at least the sky is not falling.
Isaac Hinds of Lift Studios has launched Muscle Phone, a new text messaging service that will send bodybuilding news directly to your mobile phone via SMS. Just send a text message to 64274 (MUSCLE on most devices) and you will automatically be signed up to receive IFBB and NPC contest results as they happen. Isaac Hinds describes Muscle Phone SMS:
Muscle Phone breaks new ground for bodybuilding fans and I’m excited to launch with the start of the 2008 NPC & IFBB contest season. Those who sign up for the service will receive the 2008 IFBB IRONMAN PRO results via text message immediately after they are announced… Bodybuilding fans no longer have to be glued to their computers or rely on friends for the latest NPC & IFBB contest results or industry news and gossip. Muscle Phone allows fans to be connected to the industry at all times.
