Dec 31 2008
The Detection of the Hidden Drug THG: A Major Concern of USADA
What else can athletes do to hide their dependency on steroids?
A syringe used to inject a banned substance became one of the most controversial drug issues in sports according to the report by Sara Brunetti of CBC.ca. According to the report, a high-ranking coach in track and field informed the United States Anti-Doping Agency about the newly released “undetectable steroid.” The concerned coach backed his claim by presenting used syringe that was identified to contain traces of the substance.
The accredited International Olympic Committee anti-doping lab of Enter and Professor Don Catlin at the University of California in Los Angeles studied the substance for almost two months. After testing, they concluded that the substance was a ‘designer drug,” a kind of modified steroid that cannot be detected by normal laboratory testing.
The samples gathered at the Championships of USA outdoor Track and Field in Stanford resulted into a shocking result. Six athletes were identified positive for the drug, which is identified as tetrahydrogestrinone or THG.
“What we have uncovered appears to be intentional doping of the worst sort,” uttered by Terry Madden, USADA chief executive officer. “This is a far cry from athletes accidentally testing positive as a result of taking contaminated nutritional supplements. Rather, this is a conspiracy involving chemists, coaches and certain athletes using what they developed to be ‘undetectable’ designer steroids to defraud their fellow competitors and the American and world public who pay to attend sports events,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Barbara K. Hecht and Dr. Frederick Hecht of MedicineNet.com said that THG has been recently figured out in numerous sports scandals linking athletes of track and field particularly. American athletes are considered to face lifetime bans even for first-time steroids violations according to the Officials of US track and field. Athletes are also required to pay as high as $100,000 fines once they are convicted for steroid use. Involved coaches can also face the same fines.
The FDA also released their statement on THG saying they had determined that THG is not an approved new drug. The drug cannot be legally marketed without any approval from the FDA. Brunetti also reported that the coach provided the used syringe pointed to a California Company as the source of the THG. According to the report, the store of nutritional supplement laboratory had attracted numerous clients including elite athletes.
Brunetti also explained the confusing issue about the drug in later part of her report. She mentioned that since the drug was not known, it was also never included on the list of banned substances in many leagues.
However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) explained that THG is intended to avoid detection in drug testing. Hence, those athletes who were caught positive for the hidden drug should receive a punishment.
Officials of WADA added that a proactive approach in this particular matter is very crucial. They explained that giving punishment to those athletes sends a message that any form of cheating is not tolerated. They also added that such step assures the public viewers the elimination of doping in sport.
[...] Designer steroids arose as an alternative to traditional anabolic steroids, to avoid detection and testing positive during steroid drug tests. Designer steroids more or less function the same was as traditional anabolic steroids in terms of increasing strength and developing muscle, but are harder to detect using traditional testing methods. As the development and advancement of steroid detection gets more and more sophisticated, so is the production of synthetic steroids that cannot be detected by these newly created methods. [...]
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