A new research report suggested that current steroid doping tests should be abandoned from international sport as they ignored important ethnic differences in hormone activity.

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, drugs and hormones, such as growth hormone, that increase testosterone levels are among the most widely abused performance enhancers used by sports players. Evidence of steroid abuse is determined by the testosterone and epitestosterone ratio (T: E ratio) in urine and is confirmed through chemical analysis (gas chromatography).

To check the adequacy of the current doping test, the researchers tested more than 50 football players, aged between 18 and 36, of various origins after they deliberately added steroids to their urine samples. Then they used chemical analysis test and took a variation report in the UGT2B17 gene.

Results revealed occurrence of genetic variation in almost one in four (22%) of the African footballers; in eight out 10 (81%) of the Asian players; one in 10 of the white men and in 7% of the Hispanic players. Based on these results, the Swiss researchers “recalibrated” the thresholds for each ethnic group.

From Science Daily:

Current steroid (testosterone) doping tests should be scrapped for international sport, because they ignore vital ethnic differences in hormone activity, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Testosterone, and other hormones that boost testosterone levels, such as growth hormone, are among the most widely abused performance enhancers used in sport, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Evidence of abuse is determined by the testosterone: epitestosterone ratio, or T:E ratio for short, in the urine. The threshold is set at above four for everyone, and confirmed by chemical analysis (gas chromatography).

To highlight the inadequacy of the current test, the researchers tested the steroid profiles of football players of different ethnicities, after they had deliberately added steroid to their urine samples.

They used gas chromatography, and took account of a variation (polymorphism) in the UGT2B17 gene.

The researchers concluded that a solo indiscriminate threshold to check steroid abuse in international sport was “not fit for purpose.” Instead, the reference should be customized to an athlete’s individual endocrinological (hormonal) passport, they suggest. The researching team also concluded that such a passport might not only detect modifications made by testosterone abuse and its precursors, but could also spot alterations in the steroid profile caused by use of indirect androgen doping products.

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Bobsleigh pilot and Olympian Serge Despres talks about his suspension from competing because he tested positive for nandrolone in 2008. This cost him two years of not being able to compete with the Canadian Bobsleigh team, his reputation, and even his income. Together with the suspension he was not allowed by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports to even use the bobsleigh tracks in Calgary and Whistler B.C. Nandrolone is a steroid banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency from being used in professional sports.

Still dismayed by the decision even though he is to be reinstated in August 9, 2009. He felt that it was the centre’s way of telling him who was in charge and they can do anything they wanted. Despres said that the nandrolone found in his system was so minute to cause significant changes in his performance.

From Times and Transcripts:

“It’s been pretty tough and pretty frustrating. There’s just been so many barriers since last winter,” Despres, 31, said in an interview this week from Calgary, where he works full-time now as a mechanical engineer and trains by himself in his spare time.

“I don’t see much purpose in me being out here if I’m not bobsledding.”

What has Despres so disappointed is the miniscule amount of steroid in his system was only 0.9 nanogram — basically a particle of dust — over the allowed limit of nandrolone.

“I have never knowingly taken performance enhancing drugs or banned substances … I am not a cheater,” Despres said at a news conference after the suspension was handed out. “My case is possibly the lowest recorded positive test in the history of sports drug testing.”

Despres says his suspension has ruined his chances to join the national team in the 2010 Olympics. But in order to secure a spot in the team he has to win several cups from the American and European Competitions. And he is set in proving that he deserves to be drafted for the Olympics.

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Researchers of the World Anti-Doping Association is not giving much importance to the discovery of a new gene that can change the way drug tests should be conducted in international sports. The gene, UGT2B17, is said to control testosterone absorption in to the bloodstream that makes it possible for steroid levels to vary depending on ethnicity. The threshold of testosterone to epi-testosterone for violation is 4:1. Asians reportedly have lower threshold compared to Caucasians which give them an advantage when drug tests are conducted. This findings invalidates the previous drug tests conducted on international athletes.

From ESPN:

The Swiss scientists recruited soccer players from Argentina, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, and Uganda for the study. When their genes were decoded, it was found that the different ethnic groups had the gene in different amounts.

It was present in 7 percent of Hispanics, 10 percent of whites, 22 percent of Africans, and 81 percent of Asians.

Howard Jacobs, the attorney who represented cyclist Floyd Landis, said the finding has no effect on the cyclist’s case because it was just one piece of evidence against him. (Landis, subsequently stripped of the Tour de France title he won in 2006, registered 11:1 on his t/e test.)

But Jacobs said the study is notable for what it says about anti-doping officials.

“It once again shows that their repeated claims that their tests are infallible and exhaustively reviewed prior to use are simply not true,” the attorney said.

Anti-doping officials, meanwhile, are downplaying the importance of the study.

According to Travis Tygart, chief executive for the US Anti Doping Agency, said that the important thing is that they found the gene but there is nothing new to this report. Tygart said that the WADA had known for years that this condition had been discussed. Frederick Donze, spokesman for WADA said that the agency is aware of this observation. He assured that the laboratories that conduct the tests make sure that these factors would not affect the results of the tests.

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The Rodriguez saga might not end in such a happy note as everyone might expect. The baseball star, who had been the center of attention for admitting that he used performance enhancing drugs in 2001 through 2003, may have another problem in his hands. A cyst had been discovered at his right hip that some speculate may have been caused his steroid use.

Internist and anti-doping expert Gary Wadler of the World Anti Doping Agency say it wasn’t likely. However, the presence of the cyst might jeopardize Rodriguez’s chances to play in the World Baseball Classics under the Dominican Republic Team.

From Newsday:

“Everybody’s jumping to correlations or conclusions, but there’s no basis for it,” Wadler said yesterday from his Manhasset office.

Rodriguez, the Yankees‘ third baseman, might not play in the World Baseball Classic because of the cyst, whose presence the Yankees disclosed Tuesday. Rodriguez flew to Vail, Colo., yesterday morning to be examined by hip specialist Dr. Marc Philippon.

The cyst is probably not related to an injection of anabolic steroids, Wadler said, because the hip is not an injection point for the performance-enhancing elixirs. Among the much more likely causes are athletic wear and tear, infections, tumors or genetic conditions.

“Some people are born with them,” Wadler said. “You’re either born with them or probably the single biggest reason is trauma or osteoarthritis, and then down the line are various forms of malignancies.”

Roger Clemens once had an abscess (an infected cyst) on his buttocks that was linked to a PED injection by his longtime trainer Brian McNamee during a February 2008 Congressional hearing. Clemens continues to deny he ever took PEDs.

A-Rod recently join the D.R. team, a decision he might have hoped quiet down the steroid scandal and help him put the past behind.

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It seems like every athlete and bodybuilder knows the advantages and the disadvantages of taking anabolic steroids to boost their performances during games and to make their training more efficient. There’s a class of drugs out there that have similar effects to steroids without the common problems of taking steroids that they don’t know about yet though– Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators or SARMs.

From Press Release Newswire:

According to studies, SARMs give similar benefits of testosterone, without the detrimental side effects. What makes SARMs even more appealing to athletes is the fact that SARMs are taken orally, as opposed to the traditional route of intramuscular injections as seen with most effective forms of testosterone. Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators have been studied for over a decade, but only in the last year have started attracting widespread attention.

While the research on SARMs is still ongoing, studies have already been shown that it is a good alternative for hormone replacement therapy, and treatments for osteoporosis, benign prostate hypertrophy and muscle wasting diseases. All these conditions have also been the main reasons on why several steroids have been developed at one point or another. It won’t be long when SARMs will be sold online and in local gyms assuming it will continue to follow the footsteps of other performance enhancing drugs.

For now, the World Anti-Doping Agency has already banned the use of SARMs knowing that it will lead to a widespread abuse by athletes. Unfortunately, protocols and plans to detect SARMs use are still just on paper. The World Anti-Doping Agency is rushing to find a way to test for this drug because rumor has it that the top athletes have already been starting its use.

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While the congress is doubling its efforts in identifying individuals who are involved in illegal use of various performance enhancing drugs in different sports, Major League Baseball’s independent drug-testing administrator Dr. Bryan Smith has just announced a very timely drug to be exempted from being tested.

From Sports Illustrated:

The announcement, issued by Dr. Bryan Smith, MLB’s independent drug-testing administrator, indicates a slight increase — from 103 to 106 — in the number of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) granted to big league players for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). The TUEs enable players to receive prescriptions for such drugs as Adderall and Ritalin, which were prohibited by baseball in ‘06 as part of a ban on amphetamines. Under baseball’s collectively-bargained drug policy, a team physician must send a drug prescription to Smith for his approval in order for a player to receive a TUE.

The use of amphetamines is not as widespread as those of anabolic steroids or human growth hormones. It has been shown, however, to improve an athlete’s concentration and focus– something like a mental enhancing drug. Of course, the downside is that amphetamine can be addictive and can cause serious neurological problems when abused.

The interesting issue is why baseball players have abnormally high rates for ADHD. Even Dr. Gary Wadler of the World Anti-Doping Agency considers this absurd. On top of the steroid controversies, the congress should look forward into investigations on the use of then-banned drugs in the Major Leagues. The have already started getting skeptical with players using TUEs. The use of this amphetamine and other drugs that are under the exemption might as well increase in the next few years

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Chess grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk is now under scrutiny because of possible doping due to his refusal to submit a urine sample, according to report by Spiegel Online.

Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, known as “Big Chucky” in the chess world, is now considered guilty of doping because of his refusal. The world of chess is outraged that he could face a two-year ban.

On Nov. 25 on the last day of the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Ivanchuk, known as “Big Chucky” in the chess world, refused to a judge’s request to a drug test. He reportedly acted like a child in one of his tantrums, storming out of the conference center, kicking a concrete pillar, and so on. The show of temper could be attributed to the fact that he was asked to submit urine sample right after he lost to American Gata Kamsky. Or it could be that Ivanchuk was insulted by the request? It could also be that Ivanchuck had actually used anabolic steroids.

Whatever the reason behind his explosive resistance against testing he’s now considered guilty of a doping since refusal is treated as a positive test result.

From Spiegel Online:

Drug tests were introduced at international chess tournaments in 2001. The World Anti-Doping Agency classifies chess as a “low risk sport,” and so far no one has been convicted of doping. But what exactly does that mean?

It makes sense that anabolic steroids, the bulk-producing drug of choice for weightlifters, and EPO, the wonder drug of the cycling world, would not improve a chess player’s performance. But when a chess player nears the end of a match and comes under mounting pressure, he can hyperventilate, and his pulse can shoot up to 160 and his arterial blood pressure to 200. In that situation, beta-blockers could help a player keep his head clear.

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Anti-doping authorities and United Nations officials are ecstatic that 102 countries have ratified a treaty to rid sport of dopers. If you asked us, we think it’s much better if the headline reads “More than 100 nations sign anti-war treaty”, or something along that line.

In our view, there are numerous and far more important issues that need to be addressed before politicians come after athletes who voluntarily use steroids and other performance boosters.

Take the case of Uganda, the 102nd signee of the anti-doping treaty. Ugandan officials – and the UN – should first look deeper into the human rights violations that take place at the country’s peripheries.

Then take a look at the United States.  We ask when will the United States, the 94th country to ratify the anti-doping agreement, put its stamp of approval on the Kyoto Protocol. We expect the answer would be never.

Associated Press reports on this treaty’s ‘momentous’ signing:

The director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency is hopeful the fight against drug cheats will gain ground now that over 100 countries have signed a United Nations treaty.

WADA’s David Howman said Wednesday that 102 countries have ratified the UNESCO Convention on Doping in Sport since it went into effect nearly two years ago. It means -doping measures become part of national law in the countries that have ratified the agreement.

“This is setting the standards very high. To the world governments that have shown much in fighting the scourge of doping, thank you from WADA,” Howman said Wednesday. “We’ve reached 100, in fact we’re starting to get over 100.”

At the end of February, with the number at 77, WADA president John Fahey had urged for more cooperation. Speaking at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris after a ceremony to mark the 100 signatures, he said “we’re not there yet.

“We still have a long way to go,” he added, “(Doping) is too easy in many countries there are not strong enough laws,” Howman said. “Let’s enhance the fight through legislation.”
UNESCO director-general Koichiro Matsuura called reaching 100 “an important step in the world fight against doping in sport” and said “the accent has been put on a dedication against doping, in both the scientific and the medical domain.”

Ratification of this agreement “helps a member nation prevent cross-border trafficking of sporting drugs, support a national drug-testing program and withhold funding from athletes caught cheating”, says the AP report.

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London is under pressure to toughen its stance on use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Will the 2012 Summer Olympics host city give in?

Presently, the International Olympic Committee is yet to receive any definitive action by the British government regarding legislation that will outlaw possession, supply and distribution of performance enhancing drugs.

The IOC would prefer that Britain should follow the path other European nations have taken. Countries like Sweden, Italy, Greece, and Germany have stricter doping laws where violators and suppliers can be imprisoned.

IOC’s chairman of medical commission Arne Ljungqvist, said he would be pushing for a change in the British law.

“I think legislation is very important that criminalizes certain offenses as detailed in the WADA code because it allows public authorities to intervene where we cannot,” Ljungqvist said, who is also a board member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

“We as sports authorities have our limited possibilities regulated by our code. We can do testing but we cannot do searches,” Ljungqvist added.

Britain is expected to have a new independent anti-doping agency in place by next year but it is still recalcitrant as far as criminalizing doping.

“This is on my agenda so that Britain does have a law in place at the time of the Games which will allow them to take the same action as the Italians did if a similar situation occurred,” Ljungqvist said.

Ljungqvist was referring to the incident at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin when the Austrian cross-country skiing team was exposed of practicing blood doping. Italian police conducted search on said team’s accommodations and came up with banned substances and paraphernalia.

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The controversial former Major League Baseball player Jose Canseco is involved yet again in another legal trouble as he gets 12-month unsupervised probation for a recent drug case.

Canseco pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of bringing mislabeled vials of a prohibited drug from Mexico to the United States. The drug was human chorionic gonadotropin, a fertility drug which is considered illegal without prescription and is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for use in males.

Canseco told the magistrate, Judge Ruben Brooks, he was sorry that he did not declare to border agents that he had with him the HCG vials.

On October 9, Canseco’s vehicle was searched at the San Ysidro border crossing and immigration and customs agents found six vials of HCG in one of the vehicle’s armrest.

The former baseball star, who wrote two tell-all books on steroid use in MLB, admitted he was getting the HCG to restore his hormonal level up and working.

“I didn’t go down there looking for steroids,” Canseco said while seated on a bench outside the courtroom. “I needed something to help me get my own levels back to normal, just to get me to, you know, normal working conditions, I guess.”

Canseco confessed in 2005 in his first book that he had used steroids to enhance his athletic performance. He now blames his past steroid use as the culprit for his depressed hormonal level.

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