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Buyer frenzy before prohormone is banned
[size=-1]By ELLIOTT ALMOND[/size]
[size=-1]San Jose Mercury News[/size]
<!-- begin body-content -->
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A Web site advertising nutritional supplements says it all:
METHYL D3
SORRY SOLD OUT
BANNED BY DEA
The last days of buying muscle-building prohormones - used by Mark McGwire during his 1998 home run chase - have arrived, leading to a buying spree before a federal ban goes into effect Thursday.
Supplement makers say recent demand for prohormones has increased tenfold because Congress last fall placed the dietary supplements in the same legal category as anabolic steroids - "schedule III controlled substances." They will be illegal to buy, sell or use without a prescription. Violators face up to two years in prison and fines.
"Funny, isn't it: They ban the stuff and then the industry sells about 10 years' worth of product in three months," said Joshua Smith, owner of My SupplementStore.com.
The ban comes a week after baseball announced a revised drug-testing policy and highlights how the BALCO Laboratories scandal has prompted more regulation of performance-enhancing substances. Headlines about the Burlingame nutrition company's involvement with elite athletes such as Barry Bonds and Marion Jones have spurred lawmakers to address the relatively unregulated $19billion-a-year health supplement industry.
A year ago, President Bush signaled interest in eliminating steroids in sports during his State of the Union speech. Two weeks later, four Bay Area men connected to BALCO were indicted in what has become the biggest drug scandal in sports history.
"As soon as we heard steroids mentioned in the State of the Union address we knew we were in trouble," said Mike McCandless, owner of Bulk Nutrition in North Carolina.
Supporters of the supplement industry say the government has gone too far by banning prohormones, which can boost testosterone levels and increase the ability to exercise and gain muscle mass.
"It makes health-conscious consumers into federal drug criminals," said Rick Collins, a New York lawyer and legal expert on steroids.
But authorities say prohormones can have the same health effects as steroids, including increased aggressiveness, elevated cholesterol and liver disease.
A New York graduate student who recently spent $400 for a year's supply of prohormones said he thought the supplements were a safe and effective alternative to steroids. The recreational bodybuilder, who did not want to be identified because of the stigma associated with the drugs, said they helped him bulk up to 280 pounds of lean muscle.
Prohormones first gained notice in 1998 when McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals admitted he used androstenedione, or andro, a steroid precursor banned at the time by the Olympics but not baseball. News of McGwire's use increased demand for andro. Soon more effective prohormones were marketed.
Illinois chemist Patrick Arnold, who brought andro to the marketplace, said in an October interview with Flex magazine he knew his product would be controversial.
"Knowing this, I made every effort to make it clear that these were precursors - not actual active hormones like anabolic steroids," said Arnold, who federal authorities say created the designer steroid at the heart of the BALCO case, THG.
Collins said he realizes lawmakers are trying to protect adolescents and restore the public's confidence in professional sports. But he questions their methods because, he said, the majority of users are not competitive athletes.
"They are motivated by a desire of nothing more than just to look better," Collins said.
McCandless, though, said he is relieved some controversial supplements are being blacklisted.
"You hate to see this stuff go away but since it has been giving us a negative image, I'd rather have it banned and get back to being a respected industry," he said.
McCandless, 25, said the industry sold about $150 million in prohormones in the past two years. He and Smith estimated prohormones represented about 20 percent of their sales.
Supplement makers say the loss of revenue from the ban will be recovered with new products because people always want an effective way to bulk up. Some suggest a prohormone black market will surface the way it did for steroids after their ban in 1990.
Smith said he doesn't see why.
"If you're going to risk jail time for a bigger body why not just go and get the real deal and do it right?"
[size=-1]By ELLIOTT ALMOND[/size]
[size=-1]San Jose Mercury News[/size]
<!-- begin body-content -->
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A Web site advertising nutritional supplements says it all:
METHYL D3
SORRY SOLD OUT
BANNED BY DEA
The last days of buying muscle-building prohormones - used by Mark McGwire during his 1998 home run chase - have arrived, leading to a buying spree before a federal ban goes into effect Thursday.
Supplement makers say recent demand for prohormones has increased tenfold because Congress last fall placed the dietary supplements in the same legal category as anabolic steroids - "schedule III controlled substances." They will be illegal to buy, sell or use without a prescription. Violators face up to two years in prison and fines.
"Funny, isn't it: They ban the stuff and then the industry sells about 10 years' worth of product in three months," said Joshua Smith, owner of My SupplementStore.com.
The ban comes a week after baseball announced a revised drug-testing policy and highlights how the BALCO Laboratories scandal has prompted more regulation of performance-enhancing substances. Headlines about the Burlingame nutrition company's involvement with elite athletes such as Barry Bonds and Marion Jones have spurred lawmakers to address the relatively unregulated $19billion-a-year health supplement industry.
A year ago, President Bush signaled interest in eliminating steroids in sports during his State of the Union speech. Two weeks later, four Bay Area men connected to BALCO were indicted in what has become the biggest drug scandal in sports history.
"As soon as we heard steroids mentioned in the State of the Union address we knew we were in trouble," said Mike McCandless, owner of Bulk Nutrition in North Carolina.
Supporters of the supplement industry say the government has gone too far by banning prohormones, which can boost testosterone levels and increase the ability to exercise and gain muscle mass.
"It makes health-conscious consumers into federal drug criminals," said Rick Collins, a New York lawyer and legal expert on steroids.
But authorities say prohormones can have the same health effects as steroids, including increased aggressiveness, elevated cholesterol and liver disease.
A New York graduate student who recently spent $400 for a year's supply of prohormones said he thought the supplements were a safe and effective alternative to steroids. The recreational bodybuilder, who did not want to be identified because of the stigma associated with the drugs, said they helped him bulk up to 280 pounds of lean muscle.
Prohormones first gained notice in 1998 when McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals admitted he used androstenedione, or andro, a steroid precursor banned at the time by the Olympics but not baseball. News of McGwire's use increased demand for andro. Soon more effective prohormones were marketed.
Illinois chemist Patrick Arnold, who brought andro to the marketplace, said in an October interview with Flex magazine he knew his product would be controversial.
"Knowing this, I made every effort to make it clear that these were precursors - not actual active hormones like anabolic steroids," said Arnold, who federal authorities say created the designer steroid at the heart of the BALCO case, THG.
Collins said he realizes lawmakers are trying to protect adolescents and restore the public's confidence in professional sports. But he questions their methods because, he said, the majority of users are not competitive athletes.
"They are motivated by a desire of nothing more than just to look better," Collins said.
McCandless, though, said he is relieved some controversial supplements are being blacklisted.
"You hate to see this stuff go away but since it has been giving us a negative image, I'd rather have it banned and get back to being a respected industry," he said.
McCandless, 25, said the industry sold about $150 million in prohormones in the past two years. He and Smith estimated prohormones represented about 20 percent of their sales.
Supplement makers say the loss of revenue from the ban will be recovered with new products because people always want an effective way to bulk up. Some suggest a prohormone black market will surface the way it did for steroids after their ban in 1990.
Smith said he doesn't see why.
"If you're going to risk jail time for a bigger body why not just go and get the real deal and do it right?"
