“Why should your child, or anybody’s child, become a chemical stockpile in order to be successful in sport simply because there’s some sociopath out there that pays no attention to his or her promise of doping-free sport,” said Pound.
With this statement, not only does Dick Pound equate steroid use with mental illness, he asserts that mental illness is widespread in elite sports.
When the researchers looked at the subjects’ muscles through a microscope, they made a surprising discovery: Rather than returning to their original proportions, the muscles of the steroid users who’d stopped taking the drug looked remarkably similar to those of the subjects who were still using. They also had larger muscle fibers and more growth-inducing “myonuclei” in their muscle cells than the nonsteroid users.
The main findings were that: a) Muscle fiber hypertrophy by strength training is further increased by anabolic steroids. b) The number of nuclei per muscle fiber is higher in power lifters using anabolic steroids compared to non-steroids using lifters. c) Among power lifters who have withdrawn from anabolic steroid usage and training for several years, the number of myonuclei, both subsarcolemmal and internal, remains high. d) In active power lifters, anabolic steroids have no further effect on the number of satellite cells per fiber. e) Power lifters have a high proportion of split fibers.
High intensity resistance training increases muscle strength and banned substances such as testosterone and anabolic steroids can enhance the training effects. The studies on muscle cell morphology presented in this thesis reveals that anabolic steroids and testosterone increases muscle fiber size and adds more nuclei to the muscle cell.
Based on the morphological appearance of muscle sections from doped and nondoped power lifters, we conclude that testosterone and anabolic steroids enhances the hypertrophic effects of training without adding new features. The addition of myonuclei by training and doping appears to be longer lasting in some muscles than in others. The high proportion of split fibers in power lifter is probably due to high mechanical stress. The findings and conclusions in this thesis raise questions regarding relevant suspension times for athletes caught with banned substances in the body.
The thesis confirms what many bodybuilders have long suspected based on anecdotal evidence. Even noted steroid researcher Charles Yesalis is convinced of the permanent muscle-enhancing effects of anabolic steroids based on his assessment of 30 years of anecdotal evidence.
Charles Yesalis, a former strength coach and professor emeritus of health policy and administration at Pennsylvania State University, says athletes who continue to train can retain as much as 85% of their gains from using drugs. This isn’t based on muscle biopsies or peer-reviewed research, he says, but on 30 years of experience with athletes. He says he has talked privately with hundreds of dopers, some of them champions, and has seen the permanent benefits of performance-enhancing drugs. “These things are like rocket fuel,” he says.
The little known doctoral thesis has already influenced doping penalties even though it was not peer-reviewed and not published in any medical or scientific journal.
At a meeting in Madrid in November, WADA’s Foundation Board voted to change its code to allow for a maximum four-year ban for first-time offenders caught using performance-enhancing drugs. The new ban, which goes into effect in all sanctioned Olympic events in 2009, is a severe penalty for athletes — whose careers tend to be short. Bengt Eriksson, the vice-chairman of the Swedish Sport Confederation’s doping commission, who attended the Madrid conference, says he thinks the study was “one of the main reasons” WADA raised the maximum penalty. David Howman, WADA’s director general, says the Swedish study played only a minor role in the decision.
Scientific support for the notion that three or four cycles of anabolic steroids could lead to permanent muscle enhancement is big news in bodybuilding circles.
But if true, this could lead to lifetime bans for first time doping offenses by WADA and other anti-doping agencies. This is also big news in the doping world too.
WADA’s [director general] Mr. Howman says that if science continues to confirm the findings of the Swedish study, a lifetime ban is not out of the question. “Never say never,” he says.
The testosterone:epitestosterone ratio (T:E ratio) test is a commonly used test designed to catch athletes who artificially manipulate their testosterone levels (usually with exogenous testosterone). The T:E ratio is routinely used in doping protocols around the world at all levels of sport.
Unfortunately, the T:E ratio is not very effective. This has been common knowledge among drug tested athletes for some time. Dan Duchaine first alerted athletes decades ago with Victor Conte concurring more recently. Anti-doping experts such as Charles Yesalis and Don Catlin have reluctantly acknowledged that this is true.
It is not very reliable. It is flawed. The T:E ratio test results in a lot of false negatives (athletes use testosterone but don’t get caught) as well as false positives (innocent athletes test positive for steroid use).
A recent study that we learned about on Trust But Verify and reported on at Steroid Report explains why the test is unreliable and ineffective.
It appears that certain genotypes are more likely to have false negatives (athletes use testosterone but don’t get caught)and other genotypes are more likely to have false positives (innocent athletes test positive for steroid use) (”Doping Test in Sports Confounded by Common Genetic Trait,” March 21).
If you’re a genetically gifted athlete (i.e. you lack the gene that produces the enzyme UGT2B17), you can take an whopping injection of at least 360 milligrams of testosterone without getting caught by the testosterone:epitestosterone ratio test (T:E ratio). This testosterone loophole in drug testing has been known by athletes for decades (anecdotally). It is nice to have solid scientific evidence to confirm it.
The 360 mg corresponds to a 500 mg intramuscular injection of testosterone enanthate. Yes, many athletes can take this quantity of the anabolic-androgenic steroid testosterone and still pass current WADA doping controls.
The T:E ratio test discriminates based on the ethnicity of the athlete subjected to the doping protocol. This little bit of information is impossible to overlook.
So, which ethnic groups are most likely to have false negatives on the T:E ratio test?
The latest study suggests as many as 40% of athletes with UGT2B17 homozygous deletion/deletiongenotype can take at least 500 mg of testosterone enanthate and still maintain a 4:1 T:E ratio. The following lists various ethnic groups with the estimated percentage that possess the “doping friendly” genotype (data extracted from here and here).
78.0% - Mulatto (Brazilian)
66.7% - Eastern Asian (Korean)
57.3% - Cape Colored (Cape Town, South Africa)
37.6% - Mexican Mestizo
30.4% - Asian Pacific (Southeast Asian/Southern Chinese, Asian Indian, Japanese)
29.1% - Black (African Americans, African Blacks, South/Central American Blacks)
9.3% - White Caucasian (Swedish)
3.5% - White Caucasian (primarily European)
Yes, athletes with UGT2B17 homozygous deletion/deletiongenotype are much more likely to pass a doping test if they choose to cheat (false negative). And yes, certain ethnic groups are much more likely to possess this genotype.
What should WADA do about this? Is this a problem for professional sports or high school districts that routinely use the T:E ratio test?
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.
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.
Major League Baseball claimed, in the Mitchell Report, that they have not issued “therapeutic use exemptions” (TUE) for growth hormone (GH). The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) describes these medical exemptions as follows:
Athletes, like all others, may have illnesses or conditions that require them to take particular medications. If the medication an athlete is required to take to treat an illness or condition happens to fall under the Prohibited List, a Therapeutic Use Exemption may give that athlete the authorization to take the needed medicine.
An athletes could be permitted to use drugs that have performance-enhancing effects if they have been issued a TUE. A positive result of a doping test would be dismissed as a result of the TUE.
It is good to know that MLB has not issued TUEs for GH; of course, growth hormone is undetectable in current sports drug testing.
However, when the Mitchell Report asked for the total number of therapeutic use exemptions granted, the Commissioner’s Office refused to answer:
I asked for the number of therapeutic use exemptions granted each year for performance enhancing substances (without identifying the players involved) because therapeutic use exemptions have been a significant loophole in some drug testing programs. The Commissioner’s Office and the Players Association declined to provide that information on the ground that it is considered confidential under the joint program.
Is it possible that several players have TUEs to use anabolic steroids without concern about drug testing?
Sixty percent of the 105 riders subject to testing were issued therapuetic use exemptions by the International Cycling Union (UCI):
We follow the WADA rules and the WADA rules allow guys to have (the certificates) for certain things… It’s not particular to cycling.
The number of TUEs issued by Major League Baseball could potentially be a huge loophole in their drug testing procedures especially since their procedures are much more lax than those of WADA (World Anti-Doping Association).
