French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) released a report that evidences of steroids were fount on the analysis of hair strands. These tests were conducted among 138 tests. Among them 22 were tested positive for anabolics. This alarmed sports authorities who convened on Wednesday. The main objective of the testing was to conduct a survey if athletes were using performance enhancing Drugs. The results were astounding. Pierre Rochcongar, physician for the French Football Federation said there was quite a number of athletes from different sports categories like cycling, football, and rugby using the banned substances. Despite their efforts to regulate the usage of steroids among athletes, he says the numbers were telling a different story.

From AFP:

“I am puzzled by these abnormal results,” Rochcongar told AFP. “As doctors we have been trying to do things correctly and work on prevention and yet these figures speak for themselves.”
He added that the full extent of the effects of the steroids and on boosting an athlete’s recuperative powers still had to be ascertained.

Of the 22 positive cases in question unearthed by the study the highest number from any one sport, seven, came from samples emanating from 32 tests carried out on footballers’, equivalent to 21.8 percent.

“I shall be approaching the AFLD to obtain details, while respecting medical ethics on privacy, to understand how this could occur and to put in place a policy of information and prevention,” Rochcongar said, adding that some 1,000 footballers undergo full tests on their overall fitness twice yearly.

Presidents of major sports organizations were given the heads up on the results of the tests. The tests confirmed that there were traces of DHEA or Dehydroepiandrosterone and testosterone in the hair samples. DHEA is a hormone that is derived from cholesterol and being secreted by the adrenal glands. While it is a legal food supplement in the United States, buying it in France would require prescription.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Tags: DHEA, French Anti-Doping Agency, Pierre Rochcongar, steroids, testosterone

Posted in Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports, buy steroids, steroid nation | No Comments/Questions

To the 2008 Beijing Olympics athletes, to be stripped of medals is a bad, bad way to start 2009. Our advice to them? Take in all in stride. Look at the four riders in this year’s Tour de France who tested for CERA long after the cameras flashed and the medals awarded. Their collective sigh was: C’est la vie!

The International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday about 500 samples will undergo retroactive testing in January. Of that number are about 400 blood tests to be retested for third-generation drug CERA, while 100 are urine samples which will be tested for insulin. A WADA lab in Cologne, Germany will handle the retesting of the urine samples. According to AP report, the lab has come up with a reliable test for insulin which, like anabolic steroids, is considered a performance-enhancing drug.

IOC’s statement said the tests “will primarily target endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics.” The test results are expected to be in by the end of March.

It was in October when IOC has announced its plan to carry out retroactive testing subsequent to AFLD’s (French anti-doping agency) statement that it will retest samples from the 2008 Tour de France riders. AFLD has developed a more effective method to test blood samples for new generation performance boosters like CERA. The new testing method caught four riders.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Tags: AFLD, anabolic agent, anabolic steroids, Beijing Olympics, CERA, doping, French Anti-Doping Agency, insulin, IOC, performance-enhancing drug, Tour de France

Posted in Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Olympics, steroid nation | No Comments/Questions

This 2008 Tour de France’s riders might have crossed the finished lines several weeks ago, but it looks like the rigors of the race is not yet over. The rigors of Tour de France drug screening, that is.

Retroactive testing for the new generation blood booster CERA, or Continuous Erythopoiesis Receptor Activator, is now being carried out by French laboratories. So far, two riders were caught using the banned compound since the retroactive testing was implemented. It was announced on Monday that Italy’s Leonardo Piepoli and Germany’s Stefan Schumacher both tested positive for CERA.  And race officials are expecting more positive tests in the coming weeks.

“The tests are still underway, they are not all done yet,” French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) head Pierre Bordry told Reuters on Wednesday.

“I imagine there could be one or two more cases,” race director Christian Prudhomme added, in a week when two Tour riders were exposed as drugs cheats.

Italian rider Riccardo Ricco was suspected of taking CERA when the race was still underway in July and was subsequently sent home. Spanish riders Manuel Beltran and Moises Dueňas, tested positive for EPO, and were also sent packing.

Why the late screening?

“People in the street ask me: ‘How did that come out so late?”‘ Prudhomme said. “In July, the process wasn’t legitimate at the time … These tests are of a new type.”

There are two labs which are currently testing the samples from all of the riders who competed in this year’s race.

The Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which has developed a more effective blood test to find this EPO variant, and a WADA-approved Lausanne facility are testing blood samples. CERA is difficult to detect through urine samples.

“We are testing samples from July 3, 4 and 15,” Bordry said, adding there was no room for error.

“They are all tested by the Chatenay-Malabry lab, which is the official AFLD lab, but also in Lausanne, as a guarantee.”

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Tags: CERA, doping, EPO, French Anti-Doping Agency, Leonardo Piepoli, Manuel Beltran, Moises Duenas, Riccardo Ricco, Stefan Schumacher, Tour de France

Posted in Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Sports, steroid nation | No Comments/Questions