A University of Michigan study in 2008 revealed that the percentage of high school athletes using steroid is from 3 to 4 percent. If the assumptions were accurate, that would translate to an approximately 10,000 student athletes taking performance enhancing drugs in New Jersey alone. This is one of the bases why the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) wants to expand their current steroid testing program despite the financial crisis. Their plans may not concur with other states who decided to abolish or reduce the funding for this kind of program but the association is hoping that they can implement it early next year. The athletic association would like to conduct tests even on preseason.

New Jersey is one of the few states with mandatory random testing program for high school athletes. The biggest budget allocated for steroid testing was made by Texas with an initial funding of $3 million but was reduced this year due to some questions on its effectiveness by other lawmakers. The state of Florida also decided to suspend the implementation of the program due to budgetary constraint. In Illinois, however, lawmakers are still serious in preventing student from using steroids to enhance performance during competitions. They also expanded the steroid testing program by conducting steroid test anytime of the school year.

New Jersey’s budget for mandatory drug testing is $100,000 a year. Half of the budget comes from the state while the other half is shouldered by the NJSIAA from its own revenue and excess funds. In an article of Chuck Gormley on Courier Post Online, executive director of the NJSIAA Steve Timko said that they want to maintain a clean sport in high schools. “We’re the last pure form of sports and we want to keep it that way. There are some kids who feel if they’re not going to qualify for the state tournament, they are free to abuse steroids because they won’t be tested,” he said.

There are high school athletes who want to become bigger and stronger just to be noticed by colleges. “Let’s face it, there are good athletes on bad teams and some may try to get bigger, quicker and stronger so that the colleges take a closer look at them,” Timko added. He also believed that with the expanded steroid testing program, it will create a more level playing field and help maintain the integrity of high school sports.

Funding is one of the problems of NJSIAA. According to its executive director, they had tried to get funding from NFL and MLB but they were not interested in extending support to the athletic association. They are still hoping that they can get some financial support from other professional sports bodies in New Jersey, as well as in other states like New York and Pennsylvania.

The NJSIAA is confident that their proposal would be approved since they have the support of most athletic directors and high school coaches in New Jersey. Timko said that they have been 100 percent supportive on eliminating the use of performance enhancing substances in high schools. NJSIAA assistant director Bob Baly said that the purpose of the program is not just catching those offenders. “We’re trying to raise awareness and educate coaches and athletes of the health risks,” Baly said. Although anabolic steroids can give great muscles, stamina and strength, it can also pose health risk especially to young athletes.

A high school coach from Lenape High agrees with the proposed expansion of the steroid testing program. He believes that it can prevent high school athletes from using any performance enhancing drug. “It’s important we get a jump on it before it becomes a major, major issue,” he said. The athletic director of Collingswood high school on the other hand, does not believe that steroid use is rampant among student athletes.

According to the NJSIAA director, the program acts as a deterrent for student athletes rather than catching those who are using anabolic steroids and other performance enhancers. “Hopefully, the message we’re getting out to the 257,860 student-athletes in New Jersey is that if there is a problem we’re pro-active in changing it. If we stop one kid from using steroids, it’s absolutely worth it,” Timko said.

The FDA proves that they are sincere in its campaign against companies involved in selling nutritional supplements tainted with anabolic steroids. The search conducted on Thursday was centered on one of the most popular bodybuilding website, Bodybuilding.com, which according to government officers was selling and distributing illegal anabolic steroids online. The investigators searched their headquarters in Meridian and the warehouse in South Boise, Idaho. According to FDA agents, the raid is part of their 2-year investigation on the fitness and bodybuilding site. Based on their reports, the site allegedly shipped more than 6 million orders.

The spokesperson of Bodybuilding.com, Amanda Cheslock said that they are cooperating with the federal authorities. Cheslock says that they will continue working with FDA on the investigation. She also added that the products in question were not manufactured by the company. Records showed that the company sold more than 60 different products and some of them contained controlled substances specifically designer steroids. These are Madol, Tren, Superdrol, Androstenedione, and Turinabol. Madol was first discovered at the BALCO while Androstenedione was used by Mark McGwire. Turinabol was originally developed by East Germans for their systematic doping of athletes during the Cold War.

Based on court records, the website allegedly sold illegal anabolic steroids to clients and FDA agents. The affidavit also showed that the FDA already issued five “warning letters” since 2002 informing the company that they are violating laws for selling anabolic steroids.

In a statement to the NYDailyNews, Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said that the raid is a significant step but it also unfortunately highlights the ineffective regulation of the supplements industry. “We’ve got to wonder how many others are out there continuing to sell these and other anabolic steroids,” he added. Tygart is urging the Congress to act immediately in regulating the supplements industry. He is concerned on the numbers of nutritional supplements which may not be safe for public use due to possible contamination of anabolic steroids or by deliberately adding performance enhancing substances.

Some of the people behind these crackdowns on nutritional supplement companies include Jeff Novitsky and Rob Blenkinsop. Novitsky was responsible for the discovery of BALCO’s operation and its involvement in sports doping. Blenkinsop was also involved in the BALCO investigation and acted as one of the government witnesses during the perjury trial of Tammy Thomas. For 4 months now, he is responsible for the execution of 4 search warrants at companies selling and distributing illegal nutritional or dietary supplements classified as misbranded and unapproved drugs.

The first casualty of the FDA’s effort to clean the supplements industry is the American Cellular Labs (ACL), a California-based supplement company. Based on laboratory tests, the FDA discovered that 8 of ACL products were tainted with designer steroids like Madol. The designer steroid Madol was believed to be re-discovered by Patrick Arnold, the same chemist who developed THG or “The Clear” when he worked for the BALCO.

The NYDailyNews also reported that the investigation of the FDA on the supplement companies prompted the Congress to look into this issue. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who heads the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, requested a hearing on the barriers preventing the enforcement of steroid control in the bodybuilding industry.

Moreover, a NYTimes article states that the bodybuilding site was purchased by Liberty Media in 2008 for over $100 million. The same company who purchased the Atlanta Braves from Time Warner in 2007. The large media conglomerate’s other business interests include QVC, Ticketmaster and DirectTV. The site which is a popular resource for bodybuilders and sports enthusiast has more than 1 million members at its forum.

The National Football League (NFL) is now considering giving the control of its steroid testing program to an outside agency particularly to World Anti-Doping Agency or WADA. The executive of the league issued a statement that they are now reviewing their current policies on steroid testing due to the legal problems that they are encountering right now. The Starcaps case of Minnesota Vikings Pat and Kevin Williams, which is still being fought in court, is also a test on the existing relationship of the league and the players union.

In an interview by Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the league counsel and executive vice president of labor, Jeff Pash said that the recent ruling will affect their existing steroid testing program. “It doesn’t serve anyone’s interests to have a program like this fragmented by wide-ranging state laws. If we can’t administer the program on our own, we might have to turn to an outside entity like WADA,” he said. He also added that shutting down the program is not an option since it served everyone well. There is also a possibility that the control of the testing program could be placed under a federal agency.

Recently, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Pat and Kevin Williams. Although they rejected some of the claims of the players, the court cited that the league’s policies on anabolic steroids and related substances were not in accordance with the Minnesota Workplace Law thus sending back the case to a state court. The Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act and the Lawful Consumable Products Act were allegedly violated by the league. With this ruling, the league will be facing a difficult situation since players on one team could be subjected to a different set of drug-testing rules than players on other teams depending on what state they are playing.

The league may fail to implement its steroid testing program with uniformity and the ruling could imperil the independence of the program according to Pash. He also said that their program which was praised by the Congress during the steroid hearings is existing for some decades now. “We’ve had for the better part of two decades a collectively bargained program which I think has worked very well, and most people who have looked at it think it’s worked very well. It has been a real credit to the NFL and the NFL players,” he said.

However, Pash is not happy with the union’s failure to support it in the StarCaps case because it may compromise the program. “Now we have players being subject to two sets of rules. Who knows, six months from now it might be 10 sets of rules,” he added. The chief legal counsel is still optimistic that this issue will be resolved by the league and the union officials in their next meeting. He reiterated that the league has “a range of further court options” in handling the case of the Williamses.

The union’s assistant executive director of external affairs, George Atallah had a different view on the issue. He said that the union’s intentions were not to challenge the overall system. It is the obligation of the player’s union to protect the players from an isolated abuse and injustice from within the system. The union is still in favor of keeping the current steroid testing program intact according to the report of Maske. A new system where an independent arbitrator which will hear cases for disciplinary measures imposed by the league against erring players is also likely to be discussed in their next meeting.

The 4-game suspension of the Williamses is still on hold this season since the trial in the Hennepin state court would start at the end of the current season. The suspension was due to the presence of Bumetanide, a masking agent for steroids, was detected from the players. The players contend that they do not know that Starcaps, which is a weight loss supplement, contains the banned substance. The league also decided to postpone the suspension of other NFL players for violating their drug policies. It include New Orleans Saints defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant.

The controversial statement of trainer Mayweather Sr. that the boxing icon Manny Pacquiao is using steroids could bring him legal problems. Pacquiao wrote in his column at Philboxing.com that he will file a defamation suit against Mayweather Sr. soon. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s coach said that he already consulted his lawyers about pursuing a case against the trainer. “I talked to Manny, and I talked to an attorney, and we are all on board here. This is all over the place now that Manny is on steroids, it’s defaming his name,” Roach said in an interview with Brad Cooney of 8CountNews.

Roach believes that the loss of Ricky Hatton against Pacquiao prompted Mayweather Sr. to make those accusations. Floyd Mayweather Sr. is the trainer of Hatton in that fight. He told Fanhouse that these guys had to come up with a reason why they lost. “Steroids? Where in the hell did that come from? They lost because (Floyd Sr.) sucks as a trainer and I had the better fighter,” he said. “We have taken him a couple of times to be tested, and we haven’t tested positive yet. I think he’s wrong, but all Manny’s on is white rice,” Roach added.

Pacquiao is currently undergoing training in preparation for his next fight on November 14 against Miguel Cotto, the current World Boxing Organization welterweight champion. The case is expected to be filed next week. According to the boxer, he wants everything to be settled first and he don’t want it to become a distraction during his training.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) also reacted on the comments of the trainer. This is in relation to the statement of Mayweather Sr. that Manny should be tested thoroughly and the boxing icon could probably get away from these tests. Keith Kizer, the executive director of the NSAC told abscbn-news that Pacquiao is free from steroids and other substances banned by the organization. “All I can tell you is that Pacquiao, every time he’s fought here [in Nevada, has] been tested, as well as his opponents. He passed every drug test we did to him, every steroid test we did to him,” he said. He stressed that they conduct stringent drug tests on boxers before allowing them to fight. According to Kizer, they collect urine samples before and after the fight to test for steroids and substances of drug abuse like cocaine and marijuana.

In the previous interviews of Mayweather Sr., he even reiterated his statement that Manny Pacquaio is using supplements to enhance performance. He believes that the strength and power of the pound-for-pound king is due to his taking of performance enhancing substance particularly steroids. But with the possibility of being charged in court for slander, Mayweather Sr. laid low on his stand on the issue. He recently told the media that it is only his opinion and he doesn’t talk much about it anymore.

With the unanimous win of Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday, many are expecting a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight soon. This will be considered as the fight of the century where both pound-for-pound king will prove their strength and power inside the ring.

The 2-year old perjury case of home-run king Barry Bonds will definitely extend for a few more months as the judges handling the appeal were not yet convinced on the prosecutor’s arguments. Prosecutors asked the appeals court to overturn the previous ruling of San Francisco U.S. District Judge Susan Illston that the evidences being presented by the prosecution were inadmissible to court. They insist that the district judge made a wrong decision by barring evidences critical to the case of Bonds.

During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Valliere called Judge Illston’s rulings “plainly wrong.” She said that the log sheets that could prove Bonds link to BALCO, Valente’s testimony that Anderson verified the urine samples and Bonds’ own grand jury testimony about Anderson were sufficient to allow the evidence.

Attorney Balliere also argued that Bonds own statements could be used against him. “Bonds told the grand jury that he authorized Anderson to deliver the samples for testing,” a designation that “made Anderson his agent,” she said.

However, 2 judges of the 9th Circuit court expressed some concern on Bonds right to a fair trial if the evidences will be permitted without the testimony of Anderson, Bonds trainer. Judge Mary Schroeder asked the prosecution about the validity and accuracy of the evidences. “What evidence is there that the samples weren’t altered in some way? How do we know they weren’t altered?” she said. This was also the point of Bonds’ lawyer during the hearing. “There is probably no area in which lies and forgeries and misstatements occur more frequently than in the area of drug testing,” Dennis Riordan said.

Anderson’s refusal to testify against Barry Bonds is one of the pains of the prosecution. He even spent a year in jail for contempt. Anderson is the personal trainer of Bonds and his long time friend. Allegedly, Anderson brought urine samples to BALCO for steroid testing. The samples which were labeled as Barry B and Barry were among the evidences the prosecutor wants to present in the court.

Legal experts say that without those evidences, the prosecution will be facing a very difficult stand in winning the case against the baseball slugger. However, if they lose, the prosecution could still present other evidences which were the drug tests on 2000 and 2001 showing positive result for steroids, the testimony of Bonds’ former girlfriend and other witnesses where he allegedly admitted his drug use.

Judge Carlos Bea has doubts whether the government still needs the 2000 and 2001 steroid tests since the prosecutors also say they have evidence from a 2003 steroid test administered by Major League Baseball. The prosecution believes that those tests were vital in the trial because the case revolves around Bonds’ lying about steroid use from 2000 to 2003.

Barry Bonds faces 10 counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice for lying to the BALCO grand jury in December 2003 about using steroids. He pleaded not guilty on these charges.

The world renowned trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. makes some noise again in the boxing scene when he accused the current pound-for-pound king as a steroid user. In an interview by the Michigan’s Grand Rapids Press, Mayweather Sr. deliberately said that Manny Pacquiao used steroids to beat his opponents. “I believe he’s on some kind of supplements,” Mayweather said. He is confident that Pacquiao can’t beat his son who is a 6 times world champion. “I don’t think he can beat Lil Floyd with steroids in him or not. I just don’t think he got…he don’t have that kind of talent. He don’t have that kind of skill, you know,” he added.

Mayweather suggested that Manny Pacquaio should be checked thoroughly for performance enhancing drugs. “Everybody should be checked, I think. I think everybody should be checked a little bit more thoroughly than the way they checking them now because sometimes, some of them are sliding through man and sometimes, people will know what’s going on and they ain’t saying nothing,” he said.

Many boxing experts believe that Pacquiao is the best fighter who can give Mayweather Jr. his loss. But his father-trainer is quick to counteract this by saying that they are just pushing Pacquaio a little bit too much. Even if Pacquiao is on steroids and becomes faster and stronger, it will not add more knowledge to the fighter. “It’s going to make them relentless and strong and hit hard, but that’s it. It ain’t gonna put no knowledge in your head,” he said.

The trainer also made some negative comments against Pacquiao during his fight against Ricky Hatton. He was the trainer of Hatton who lost in the early rounds by a TKO.

Although these accusations were unfounded, many believes that Mayweather Sr. is doing this because of the scheduled fight of his son, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 knockouts) against Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This will be the first fight of Mayweather Jr. after his retirement almost two years ago.

Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs), who has a scheduled fight against Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) for the World Boxing Organization welterweight (147 pounds) on Nov. 14, makes his counter-punch. During their promotional tour, Pacman denied using any steroid. “Maybe all of them- they’re using the steroids, and not me,” he said. “You know what? I don’t even know what a steroid is. I’ve never done that,” he added.

Mayweather Jr. believes that he is still boxing’s best fighter and the pound-for-pound king. Pacquaio, on the other hand has a different opinion. “Floyd Mayweather was the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter before, but not any more. I’m not going to say that about myself. I’ll leave that up to the fans and someone else to decide,” he said.

Moreover, Mayweather Jr. slashed Shane Mosley on his alleged steroid use. He said in interview that Shane Mosley beat Oscar dela Hoya twice using steroids. “So did he win all those championships? Absolutely not, he was on steroids. Now he talks about wanting to fight everyone out there? Shane, your career is over. You’re almost 40! Give it up,” he said.

The result of the Saturday Mayweather-Marquez fight will determine if Mayweather is still the best pound-for-pound fighter in the boxing arena.