[mick]

They do what's right and then what?
Honest athletes are being hosed.
I've highlighted some stuff for an easier read.
mick


Nandrolone in sport.

Nandrolone is the popular name for the anabolic androgenic steroid more properly known as 19-nortestosterone. Many different androgenic anabolic steroids, including nandrolone and testosterone itself, have been used by athletes over the years, and well-established measures are in place to detect abuse.

The apparent spate of nandrolone cases in British athletics over the last couple of years has cast a shadow over the sport as well as the individuals involved. Dougie Walker, Linford Christie and Mark Richardson are among the top athletes from various countries who have produced positive tests for nandrolone, although Walker continues to protest his innocence even after completing the two-year suspension from competition that effectively ended his career, and the others also vigorously deny any wrongdoing.

This problem is not unique, either to athletics or the UK. Football, boxing, cycling, rugby, weightlifting and many other sports have seen similar cases. Nonetheless, UK Athletics has taken the lead in investigating the possible reasons for the positives.

Were the athletes cheating?

The problem was approached with an open mind, and all possibilities were considered, including the possibility of deliberate and systematic cheating by the athletes concerned. A review of the positive cases within athletics revealed that all of the athletes had reported using a range of dietary supplements, mostly from the same supplier.

A study carried out at Aberdeen University showed that administration of these supplements to athletes and to healthy volunteers training at a more modest level resulted in some positive tests. And those who tested positive recorded concentrations of 19-norandrosterone (the nandrolone metabolite whose presence is taken as evidence of nandrolone in the system) of up to about 30ng per ml of urine: anything above 2ng/ml and 5ng/ml for females counts as a positive.

Initial analysis of the supplements taken by the athletes and volunteers did not detect nandrolone or any other related steroids that could explain these positive tests. The International Athletic Federation (IAF) did not accept these results, which were, in truth, difficult to explain. But, because of the time pressures, it was not possible for the researchers to test a large number of supplements or a large number of athletes before presenting these data to the IAF.

However, when the analysis of some of the dietary supplements was repeated, using an improved method developed by the IOC-accredited laboratory in Cologne, the Aberdeen and Cologne laboratories both found tiny amounts of a number of different steroids in several of these supplements. The amounts of steroids, although sufficient to play havoc with the careers of these athletes, were far too small to have any beneficial effects on performance. The supplements did not say on the label that they contained any banned substances and the athletes involved believed them to be suitable for use.

At about the same time as these results were coming out of Aberdeen, similar findings were reported from IOC-accredited drug testing laboratories in Germany, Canada and the USA. In Italy, two athletes tested positive after taking iron tablets, and Nandrolone precursors were later found to be present in some of the tablets. In Germany, nandrolone has been found in creatine powder sold to athletes.

Strict liability still applies

There is now a considerable weight of evidence to show that not all dietary supplements can be regarded as safe, even when the label or promotional material says they are. As before, however, the principle of strict liability applies (meaning that the athlete is responsible for whatever is in his or her body, irrespective of how it got there) and athletes who test positive in these circumstances are technically guilty.

Dietary supplements are not evaluated by regulatory agencies, and inaccurate labelling of ingredients is known to be a problem. Most supplements, it has to be said, will not cause problems for the athlete, and most companies that manufacture and supply these supplements are anxious to ensure the welfare of their customers. Nonetheless, the supplements reported to have been used by athletes who gave positive tests, backed up by the Aberdeen research, were all apparently innocuous substances, which should not have resulted in positive tests, even in the high doses used by some of these athletes. Until the picture is clarified, the only safe course for prudent athletes would seem to be to avoid anything that cannot be absolutely trusted.

....

So where are we now? In some ways it does not help to know what was positive last year because the market keeps changing, with old products disappearing and new ones appearing on a regular basis. It is also true that products from the same batch – or even the same bottle – may be either clean or contaminated.