In India, the doping scandal involving school children is threatening to take shocking proportions with schools from Punjab and Maharashtra topping the list of offenders.

Eleven children - from boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting - tested positive for steroids and diuretics during the 57th National School Games, which concluded recently in New Delhi, according to NationalAnti-Doping Agency .

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

While the three wrestlers tested positive for diuretic furosemide (a substance used to mask the presence of prohibited substances in the body), the weightlifters’ samples contained the steroid stanozolol THC (found in marijuana). The boxers tested positive for a cocktail of banned drugs - stanozolol THC (marijuana), methylhexaneamine and nandrolone.

Those caught for doping in wrestling are from schools in Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, while in weightlifting the positive cases came from the students of Delhi and Punjab schools. In boxing, the positive samples were found in students from Maharashtra, Manipur and Punjab.

“This has become a very serious matter. That 14 per cent of the samples have returned positive is a matter of shame for the schools and officials. It is much higher than the national average of 4 per cent,” NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar told TOI.

Tags:  boxing, diuretic, diuretics, doping scandal, furosemide, methylhexaneamine, Nandrolone, Stanozolol, steroid, Steroids, weightlifting, wrestling

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Former All Blacks are left fuming over allegations of steroid taking in the 1990s.

New Zealand Rugby Union’s head of sales and marketing between 1997 and 1999, Jack Ralston, made the allegation in his yet-to-be-released biography, The Sports Insider, the Press reports.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

“People might be stunned by this but I know at least two All Blacks in the 1990s who responded to demands that they bulk up by taking steroids,” he wrote.

Ralston would not name the two players, who he said had told him in confidence, telling Fairfax Media they were “smaller guys who needed to put on muscle and bulk who were under pressure”.

He said the players may now feel they can speak publicly about taking the performance enhancing substances.

“He has cast aspersion on a lot of people and I can say that during my time with the team I saw none of that,” ex-captain Taine Randell told Fairfax.

Tags:  All Blacks, rugby, steroid, Steroids

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

According to ex-enforcer Georges Laraque, steroid and illegal drug use was a problem in the NHL not too long ago.

Laraque talks about steroid use in the NHL in his new book, “The Story of the NHL’s Unluckiest Tough Guy.”

From Larrybrownsports.com:

“I have to say here that tough guys weren’t the only players using steroids in the NHL,” the former Canadien wrote. “It was true that quite a lot of them did use this drug, but other, more talented players did too. Most of us knew who they were, but not a single player, not even me, would ever think of raising his hand to break the silence and accuse a fellow player.”

Laraque explained that if you look at a player’s decrease in efficiency and weight loss, you’ll notice there is a significant drop every four years when the Winter Olympics are held.  Obviously, the Olympics have a strict drug testing policy which would result in players being declared ineligible if they were caught.

“Before a game, as I would warm up on the ice, I would always look at the tough guy on the other side,” he said. “If his arms were trembling, if his eyes were bulging, I knew for sure he wasn’t going to feel any of the punches I would give him.”

Tags:  Georges Laraque, NHL, steroid, Steroid use, Steroids

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

A man from New Zealandwas caught trying to smuggle about 7000 illegal steroid tablets into Australia in his underwear.

Customs officers at  Melbourne Airport stopped the 23-year-old man at Melbourne Airport and arrived on a flight from Bangkok, when they suspected he was concealing something inside his clothing.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

Customs officers at Melbourne Airport stopped the 23-year-old man, who arrived on a flight from Bangkok, when they suspected he was concealing something inside his clothing on Friday.

A search revealed about 7000 tablets, believed to be Dianabol, concealed in four snap-lock plastic bags inside his underwear.

Officers also found a 100ml bottle labelled “Finexol” and 100 “Trenabolone Acetate” tablets.

The man has been charged with smuggling prohibited imports and is due to face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on September 17.

The maximum penalty for the offence is five years jail and/or a fine of A$110,000 ($136,815).

Tags:  Dianabol, Finexol, steroid, steroid tablets, Trenabolone Acetate

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

The treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis with glucosteroids provides relief of symptoms, but the therapy leads to significant increase in the composition of body fat, as per researchers at the Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade in Amsterdam.

“In this early arthritis cohort, there were unfavorable changes in body fat composition after one year in glucosteroid users that were not observed in glucosteroid nonusers,” Michael Nurmohamed, MD, senior reader in rheumatology at Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade, in Amsterdam said at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

From Medpagetoday.com:

In the study, the researchers followed 100 consecutive patients from their early arthritis cohort. Early arthritis was defined as diagnosis of the disease for less than two years. Women made up 68% of the cohort.

The group included 85 patients who had rheumatoid arthritis according to American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria; the remaining patients had undifferentiated arthritis.

Doctors prescribed a glucosteroid to 74% of the patients in the first year of treatment, at a mean oral dose of 7.6 mg. The patients underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and after 12 months of treatment.

The patients on steroids reduced their DAS28 (Disability Activity Score) from a baseline of 5.2 points to 2.7 points at the end of the year. Patients who were not on steroids reduced their DAS28 scores from 4.1 points to 2.8 points. Both reductions were statistically significant within the groups (P<0.05), but it was also significantly different in favor of the steroid users (P<0.001), the researchers explained.

“This effect occurred despite a greater decrease of disease activity in the glucosteroid users which would be expected to favorably influence body fat distribution by encouraging more physical activity,” Nurmohamed told at a poster presentation.

Tags:  steroid, Steroids

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

As part of the initiatives for cutting the growing misuse of the drugs among young people, Border officials would be able to seize imports of anabolic steroids.

In response to warnings about the increasing popularity and easy availability of anabolic steroids online, the new legislation on anabolic steroids is being introduced.

From Gponline.com:

Cumbria GP Dr Euan Lawson, who has an interest in the risks associated with drug misuse, welcomed the announcement. But he said such measures needed to be supported by strong harm-reduction messages.

The government’s announcement of new legislation comes in response to recommendations in a report issued last year by the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

The ACMD said legislation needed to be introduced to prevent importation of anabolic steroids. It also said the National Treatment Agency (NTA) needed to recognise infection risks faced by users of anabolic steroids. But it advised against changing the legal status of anabolic steroids.

‘It is encouraging that the government have accepted almost all the ACMD’s recommendations and haven’t chosen to criminalise and marginalise anabolic steroid users directly,’ Dr Lawson said. ‘There is a real need for reliable, credible and consistent health information for steroid users.’

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, anabolic steroids online, steroid

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

The face of performance enhancing drug and appearance enhancing drug use among teenagers is not necessarily who you think, as per a recent guest speaker at Logan-Rogersville High School.

“The fastest growing group of high school steroid users are freshman girls,” said Don Hooton Jr., director of business development for the Taylor Hooton Foundation.

From Southcountymail.com:

The Taylor Hooton Foundation was founded in 2004 following the death of Hooton’s brother, who had been using two kinds of steroids to increase his chances of being his baseball team’s top pitcher.

Hooton addressed a student assembly Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 31; a second presentation was held that night for parents.

“If we’d educated ourselves, we would’ve known what was going on,” Don Hooton Sr. said in a video included in the presentation. “We never knew to equate this abnormal behavior as something other than ‘normal’ teenage behavior.”

“Not the kind of kid you think of doing something like this,” he told the students. Overachievers, though, are at high risk of being susceptible to performance- and appearance-enhancing drugs. “They think they are doing something healthy, getting their body in better shape.”

Tags:  performance enhancing drug, steroid, Steroids

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Baseball pitching star Roger Clemens, winner of a record seven Cy Young Awards, sat silently in federal court as his trial opened on charges of perjury and obstruction of Congress.

The baseball star is facing charges that carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

From NPR.org:

Clemens remained expressionless as the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Durham, told the jury that the government had physical proof that the 48-year-old onetime pitching ace had been repeatedly injected with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens, whose fastball was so powerful he earned the nickname “Rocket,” is not charged with using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. Rather, it is his denial of steroid and HGH use in testimony before a House committee in 2008 that could cost him his freedom. He is charged with six different counts of perjury, making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation into the use of banned substances in baseball.

Clemens said during his congressional testimony, “I’ve been accused of something I’m not guilty of. … I’ve never taken steroids or HGH.”

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, baseball, HGH, human growth hormone, Roger Clemens, steroid, Steroids

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Federal prosecutors landed two guilty pleas recently in what was featured in court as a multi-agency effort for taking down “a large international conspiracy” to peddle anabolic steroids and other illegal muscle building drugs.

Paul G. Matthews, 51, of the Pittsburgh area, and Ronald J. Sales, 46, of the St. Louis area, pleaded guilty and now face sentencing in September.

From Post-gazette.com:

Mr. Matthews ran Matthews Training Concepts and was caught running a steroid manufacturing facility in his home.

Although there was no testimony at hearings Tuesday to any direct business links between Mr. Matthews and Mr. Sales, both were accused of conspiracy to distribute 40,000 units of steroids in Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and of paying for them by sending money to Ukraine and China.

At Mr. Matthews’ guilty plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary McKeen Houghton said that he was doing business with two Ukrainian men, later identified as Oleksandr “Musclebear” Skochyk and Yeveniy Suray.

The two Ukrainians were indicted by a Pittsburgh-based federal grand jury a year ago for distributing illegal, Chinese-made steroids and synthetic testosterone. Arrest warrants were issued, and Ms. Houghton said the men are being extradited.

Steroids can cause aggression, mood swings, liver damage, infertility in men, and other health problems according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, muscle building drugs, steroid, synthetic testosterone

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions

According to a study, some children may not experience the same benefits of inhaled corticosteroids for keeping their asthma under control.

“There may be several reasons for our findings; It is possible that some children are genetically less responsive to steroids,” says researcher Gregory Sawicki, M.D. of Children’s Hospital in Boston.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Several studies of adults with asthma have suggested that even rigorous use of inhaled steroids doesn’t lead to well controlled asthma in all adults, Dr. Sawicki noted. “But this issue hasn’t been looked at closely in children,” he said. “Further studies are needed to see what is different about children who don’t respond to steroids, to see if there is a way to predict whether a child will respond to inhaled steroids.”

Of the 914 children in the study, inhaled steroids were recommended for 435 who had persistent asthma, meaning they had symptoms on a regular basis. Among children who weren’t recommended for inhaled steroid treatment, most reported well-controlled asthma. Among those recommended for inhaled steroid treatment, 44% reported consistently using the medicine; 35% said they intermittently used the medicine and 21% said they didn’t use it at all.

“The majority of children with mild asthma are less likely to have symptoms as they get older and may not need to be on daily steroids,” Dr. Sawicki said. “The flip side is that if a child has poor asthma control, the parents and doctor need to make sure the child is adhering to their inhaled steroid treatment. But variation in response to inhaled steroids, as other medications, is well described.”

“In addition to issues of medication adherence and inability to completely control for differences in underlying asthma, severity can never be completely ruled out,” Sawicki said.

Tags:  corticosteroids, inhaled steroids, steroid, Steroids

Posted in  Steroids | No Comments/Questions