Archive for February, 2012

A former husbandry official in central China’s Henan Province has been jailed for seven years for dereliction of duty and embezzlement.

Liu Jinchun, former department chief of the Jiaxian County agriculture and husbandry bureau, turned a blind eye to the use of a banned drug by pig raisers and was convicted of forging test reports and siphoning off 70,000 yuan (US$11,109) from subsidies to raisers, the Jiaxian County People’s Court said.

From Shanghaidaily.com:

Liu asked raisers to prepare clean pig urine samples ahead of checks by provincial authorities. He also issued quality passes to raisers without supervision, yesterday’s Legal Daily reported.

Officials told the court that Liu’s department would test pig urine samples before the checks to ensure they were clean. “We sealed the samples in the fridges and heated them when provincial investigators came,” they said.

Despite the fact that Henan had repeatedly ordered local authorities to strictly monitor banned chemicals in pig feed, there wasn’t a quality investigation department in the Jiaxian bureau, Liu said.

“The records of the daily feeds and drugs are incomplete and bogus. We never checked the raisers and we ignored their illegal behaviors. We just polished the records to deal with the officials from the provincial authorities,” Liu told the court.

Pigs tested positive for clenbuterol, a chemical poisonous to humans, which is banned in China yet continues to appear in the food chain.

The Spanish cyclist, Alberto Contador, returned to Europe on 31 January 2012 with a second place overall, two mountain-top stage wins, and the King of the Mountains title in the recently completed Tour of San Luis stage race in Argentina.

However, things may not be good for Contador as he awaits the fast-looming verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over his clenbuterol case that could see him face up to a two-year ban.

From Cyclingweekly.co.uk:

A verdict from CAS was expected during the week commencing January 30, but CAS issued a statement on Monday saying that the verdict will be delivered on February 6.

The final stage of San Luis was won by Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in a sprint. It was the Belgian’s first victory since Ghent-Wevelgem last spring. The overall victory went to Boonen’s team-mate Levi Leipheimer.

Contador, meanwhile, is due to return to Madrid very early on Tuesday morning after travelling for almost two days on the trot, for a verdict for his positive test for clenbuterol that could see him stripped of his most recent Tour de France title, in 2010.

Contador still claims that the minute traces of clenbuterol found in his body in July 2010 were due to a contaminated beef steak.

Axis Laboratories LLC, in connection with a case of mail fraud, has been sentenced to one-year probation, penalized $50,000, and asked to surrender $107,000.

The company was charged by prosecutors of disseminating anabolic steroids disguised as a weight-loss dietary supplement.

From Naturalproductsinsider.com:

In September 2011, FDA said Axis was charged with one count of mail fraud in connection to the illegal distribution of a product called “Monster Caps,” which contained synthetic anabolic steroids. FDA said Axis Labs engaged in the business of manufacturing, labeling, shipping and selling Monster Caps to enable weight loss and increase muscle mass. The agency said the product falsely purported to be a dietary supplement and therefore could be distributed and dispensed without prior approval from FDA.

However, Monster Caps contained anabolic steroids, or similar synthetic compounds, according to FDA tests.  Because Axis Labs intended these products to affect the structure and function of the human body, they were considered drugs regulated by United States Code.

Earlier, DCD LLC and R&D Holdings were also fined after they were found selling adulterated supplements that contained anabolic steroids.

Mike Kogan, “King Mo” Lawal’s administrator, hopes the MMA community can understand from their encounter after Lawal examined positive for anabolic steroids.

“We were very transparent about all of this and the biggest reason was because we want to make sure people have a chance to do their own research,” Kogan explained to MMAWeekly.

From Fightline.com:

Lawal tested positive for anabolic steroid, Drostanolone after his Strikeforce victory over Lorenz Larkin earlier in January, prompting Kogan to speak out about the unusual circumstances surrounding the incident.

According to Kogan, Lawal was taking a commercial supplement called S-Mass Lean which contained the banned substance—something the pair claims to have been unaware of. The longtime manager calls for better regulation of supplements and increased awareness to prevent similar instances.

“The problem is that these materials and this research and information usually becomes available retroactively, not proactively, not ahead of time,” said Kogan. “Can this be prevented? Yes, it can be prevented by regulation through the FDA. But then they have to take on the big lobbying group of the nutrition companies.”

A stalemate in the debate over how to deal with the usage of anabolic steroids in sport may be marked by US prosecutors’ decision to drop a two-year doping investigation of legendary Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong.

The 40-year-old cyclist was been investigation for possible crimes ranging from conspiring with other cyclists for substance distribution, trafficking, and defrauding the government.

From Alaskadispatch.com:

But the decision by US Attorney Andre Birotte on Friday to close the Armstrong investigation comes after a number of high-profile prosecutions managed to raise awareness about the seriousness of doping, but failed to produce significant legal victories against the defendants.

In a 2011 federal trial, retired home run king Barry Bonds escaped serious criminal charges after becoming one of 86 baseball players in the 2007 Mitchell Report linked to doping. Last year, the judge in the Roger Clemens perjury trial quickly declared a mistrial after a prosecutor introduced disallowed evidence to jurors. Clemens is slated for a retrial in April.

In both those cases, the government wasn’t trying to prove the sports stars took illegal steroids, but that they lied to investigators – and, in Clemens’ case, to Congress – during the investigation.

“The United States Attorney determined that a public announcement concerning the closing of the investigation was warranted by numerous reports about the investigation in media outlets around the world,” US Attorney Andre Birotte said in a statement.

A US attorney in Los Angeles has decided not to pursue charges against Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who beat cancer and won the Tour de France seven straight times.

The career of Armstrong has been shadowed by doping allegations throughout his unprecedented run.

From Thescore.ie:

After all the time and effort that has gone into such cases, some are wondering whether the government should continue the pursuit of athletes who are suspected of cheating with performance-enhancing drugs.

“This is an example where prosecutors are out scouring the countryside to bring charges against a high-profile athlete,” said defense attorney Mark Werksman, a former federal prosecutor. “It’s disturbing that they contort and stretch to find a crime. It’s an abuse of federal power. It’s wrong.”

The 40-year-old Armstrong was accused in 2010 by former teammate Floyd Landis of participating in a doping program.

A spokesman for Major League Baseball acknowledged an incident as “unusual” wherein Dustin Richardson, the 26-year-old left-handed pitcher, had tested positive and been suspended for 50 games.

“I’ve never seen a case like this, and we’re talking about 30 years I’ve been doing this kind of work,” said Don Catlin, an anti-doping expert and former director of the U.C.L.A. Olympic Analytical Laboratory.

From Nytimes.com:

Richardson tested positive for three anabolic steroids — Methandienone, Methenelone and Trenbolone — that are fairly commonplace on their own, according to doping experts, but unusual in tandem.

On top of those, he tested positive for Letrozole, a drug that blocks the enzyme responsible for the production of estrogen, a process that commonly occurs as a byproduct of anabolic steroid use and is linked to several undesirable side effects.

Finally, Richardson also tested positive for amphetamines, which have been banned in baseball since 2006.

“I’ve had doublets and triplets, but to have five, and have it cover three different subclasses of drugs, is unique, as far as I can tell,” Catlin added.

Daniel Carvalho has apologized and retracted allegations that he had to take anabolic steroids while playing for CSKA Moscow.

The former CSKA Moscow midfielder told he was given anabolic steroids to improve his physical condition because he was “too skinny” when he arrived at the Russian club in 2003.

From Greenwichtime.com:

Hours later, after his interview made headlines across the world, Carvalho released a statement through Palmeiras saying he didn’t know if the substance in the injections he received was actually steroids.

“I don’t know if it was an anabolic steroid, I don’t have the medical knowledge to know that,” he said. “If it was, it’s something that happened 10 years ago and it’s in the past. If it wasn’t, I apologize to the Russians for the badly used words.”

“I took the same food supplements that all other athletes took regularly,” he said. “Nobody was forced to take anything.”

Former Brazil international midfielder Daniel Carvalho has admitted that he received regular injections of anabolic steroids while being a part of Russian club CSKA Moscow.

Carvalho said he was given the drugs because CSKA’s medical staff considered him “weak”.

From Itv.com:

“In Russian football there isn’t any [anti-]doping,” he said. “There were needles put into my vein, and on the sixth or seventh injection I stopped taking them because I discovered that it was going straight into my heart.

“I told them I didn’t want to take it any more.”

The 28-year-old Brazilian, who was Man of the Match in CSKA’s UEFA Cup Final win over Sporting Lisbon in 2005, was initially a hit in Russia, and was capped three times by Brazil in 2006.

But a decline in his performances, amid questions over his physical fitness, have provoked criticism – and Carvalho now blames the doping regime he alleges he was subject to in Moscow.

“I left Brazil thin, very thin,” Carvalho said. “Then I went to Russia for six years, and they gave me steroid injections, and after six months I’d put on eight kilos.”

The NSW Medical Tribunal has fined celebrity plastic surgeon Dr Michael Zacharia, who prescribed human growth hormones to combat ageing.

The doctor was found guilty of professional misconduct by the NSW Medical Tribunal.

From Dailytelegraph.com.au:

But the 47-year-old medic – fined $15,000 for illegally prescribing steroids, growth hormones and testosterone — defended his controversial treatment and said he had become a scapegoat for a practice used by doctors worldwide.

“I have had this issue placed against me but really there are lots of other doctors who are performing exactly what I was doing – thousands of other doctors both here and over in America – and it is something that for some reason I have been singled out.”

After an investigation by the Health Care Complaints Commission found his cure for wrinkles was “grossly improper” and inappropriate,” the former president of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons was prosecuted in the Medical Tribunal.