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.

Tags: anabolic steroids, human chorionic gonadotropin, Jose Canseco, Major League Baseball, MLB, steroids, World Anti-Doping Agency

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong says ‘Non merci’ to an offer that would clear his name of doping suspicions once and for all. The offer to retest Armstrong’s urine samples from 1999 Tour de France came from Pierre Bordry, head of French anti-doping agency.

From Cycling Weekly:

Bordry yesterday offered to retest the samples according to L’Equipe newspaper as of a way to prove Armstrong’s good faith and dispel accusations made by the L’Equipe newspaper that the samples may contain traces of the banned blood booster EPO.

It was L’Equipe which broke the news back in 2005 that six of Armstrong’s urine samples from the 1999 Tour allegedly showed traces of the banned compound erythropoietin (EPO) in an article entitled “The Armstrong Lie.”

Armstrong vehemently denied the allegation with this statement:

“Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow’s article is nothing short of tabloid journalism,” Armstrong wrote on his Web site. “I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs.”

In a written statement, Armstrong sidestepped the offer by claiming that an independent investigation instigated by the UCI had said the 1999 samples “have not been maintained properly, have been compromised in many ways, and even three years ago could not be tested to provide any meaningful results.”

“There is simply nothing that I can agree to that would provide any relevant evidence about 1999,” Armstrong added in his statement.

Armstrong also pointed out that the “the Independent Investigation concluded that the French laboratory, the French Ministry of Sport, and Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, all behaved improperly with respect to the 1999 Tour de France samples.”

He says that WADA and the French Ministry refused to address the finding of the investigation by refusing to have the issues heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“If Mr. Bordry would now like to re-examine the past, he must start with presenting the issues of the misconduct of the French laboratory, the French Ministry, and WADA before a proper tribunal.” Armstrong said in the statement.

The seven-time Tour de France winner also reminded everyone that he has agreed to work with anti-doping expert Dr Don Catlin for his comeback to racing, to develop a blood and urine testing protocol. Armstrong said that his results will be posted on the internet and that the testing protocol will be available to other riders.

At the time the said samples were taken, there were no means to determine the presence of exogenous EPO. The samples were preserved and have undergone testing again by a French lab located near Paris. However, doubts surround the validity of the tests conducted by the French lab since they were taken on B samples only since the A samples have already been used up.

EPO enhances performance by increasing red blood cell production. Clinically, EPO is used to treat certain types of anemia, particularly those that are due to chronic kidney disease and from treatment of cancer. EPO is sometimes referred to as Erythropoiesis Stimulating Agent or ESA when used as performance-enhancing drug.

EPO and related substances, along with anabolic-androgenic steroids and their related substances, are included in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances. According to WADA, “unless the athlete can demonstrate that the concentration (of prohibited substance) was due to physiological or pathological condition” and “if a laboratory report, using a reliable analytical method, that the Prohibited Substance is of exogenous origin, the Sample will be deemed to contain a Prohibited Substance and shall be reported as an Adverse Analytical Finding.”

Tags: anabolic-androgenic steroids, doping, EPO, Lance Armstrong, Pierre Bordry, steroids, Tour de France, World Anti-Doping Agency

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Olympics

There have been several reports that Chinese swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng was banned for life because he was tested positive for an anabolic steroid. Ouyang was actually tested positive for the sympathomimetic agent clenbuterol hydrochloride, which is not an anabolic steroid. Clenbuterol is prescribed to sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator.

Ouyang, a backstoke specialist, has won three silver medals during the Asian Games in 2006. He tested positive for the banned substance during a routine out-of-competition screening in May 1. Ouyang and his coach Feng Shangbao were meted out with lifetime ban from the sport.

The screening was carried out at anti-doping agency’s newly-built drug laboratory. The high-tech lab will be used for the Summer Olympics in Beijing this August.

The decisive and harsh punishment Chinese authorities handed down on one of the country’s top swimmers send a strong message against performance-enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids.
During an interview with the Associated Press, Zhao Jian, deputy director general of the China Anti-Doping Agency, said Ouyang’s case illustrates that China is “resolutely determined to send clean athletes to the Beijing Olympic Games.”
“It shows China has a very systematic and strict anti-doping program, which includes … all of the best athletes. The system is running effectively,” he said.

The lifetime ban is an unusually harsh punishment for a first time offender like Ouyang. Generally, first time offenses get a two-year suspension. The decision to slap Ouyang with a lifetime ban reflects China’s zero-tolerance policy regarding anabolic steroids and other PEDs.

The host country for the 2008 Summer Olympics is one of the world’s largest producers and suppliers of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

Last year, it adopted a more stringent anti-drug measures and policy due to pressure from the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Earlier this month, Chinese authorities announced that 150 illegal manufacturers of anabolic steroids and other banned compounds had been shut down. Another 300 online sites engaged in distribution similar compounds had been reportedly closed down.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Beijing Summer Olympics, Chinese swimmer, clenbuterol, EPO, Feng Shangbao, human growth hormone, lifetime ban, Ouyang Kunpeng, World Anti-Doping Agency, Zhao Jian

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Sports