{"id":2685,"date":"2009-10-04T03:11:25","date_gmt":"2009-10-04T01:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=2685"},"modified":"2015-02-15T00:33:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T05:33:58","slug":"methinks-doth-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/methinks-doth-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Methinks They Doth Protest Too Much…"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time for another round of congressional and agency posturing over dietary supplements… particularly those that – in the words of this\u00a0New York Times article<\/a>\u00a0– “illegally contain steroids.”<\/p>\n

Now Congress is investigating whether laws, health agency resources and manufacturing guidelines are adequate to protect the public from products that illegally contain steroids but masquerade as dietary supplements.<\/p>\n

…Testifying on Tuesday at a Senate hearing on bodybuilding products, Travis T. Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, estimated that hundreds of illegal products containing steroids were now available in the United States. As evidence of the problem, Mr. Tygart introduced Jareem Gunter, a former college baseball player who said he suffered acute liver failure after taking a bodybuilding product called Superdrol.<\/p>\n

\u201cJareem had no way of knowing that a regulatory scheme designed over 15 years ago for a few companies selling a limited number of simple vitamins and mineral supplements has been hijacked by unscrupulous profiteers,\u201d Mr. Tygart told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs at the hearing on bodybuilding products.<\/p>\n

…Mr. Tygart, of the Anti-Doping Agency, recommended legislative changes that would give the agency greater power over dietary supplements both before and after they go on sale.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s really only one word to describe this song and dance: it’s horses**t.<\/p>\n

Let’s be completely clear: I’m not “for” giving supp companies carte blanche to market steroid-based products over-the-counter for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 But the FDA has ALWAYS had the power to regulate the sale of these “supplements” – the sale of which has\u00a0been completely out in the open.\u00a0 Here’s what guru Will Brink wrote about Superdrol on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” forum, back in September 2005<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

“You ask good questions that have no answers, and that is precisely what I see as the major problem with the new crop of \u201candro\u201d supplements. They are modified versions of existing compounds\/hormonal analogs, and we don\u2019t know their pharmacology in terms of efficacy, side effects, etc. A certain amount can be figured out from the chemistry (e.g., its potential to convert to estradiol, etc.) but make no mistake, small changes in hormones and hormone analogs can have profound changes on their pharmacology that are not discovered from a simple look at their molecular structure. Make no doubt about this, these new compounds are NOT pro hormones but true designer steroids of unknown pharmacology. For that reason alone, I recommend people avoid them.<\/strong> You are not using any sort of normal pro hormone, but a true designer steroid here with all the known-and more important-unknown effects good and bad. How can this possibly be legal you ask? Due to loop holes and poor language in the current law, it\u2019s not legal per se<\/strong>, but it\u2019s not exactly illegal either, and as expected, banning the true prohormones only led to more effective and potentially more dangerous gray market \u201csupplements\u201d. Use at your own risk, but if it were me, I would use tried and true steroids that have well known safety records and pharmacology (i.e., Deca, Anavar, etc.), assuming you have decided to use steroids in the first place. I will add additional info about these new compounds as we know more, but I would never take them myself, and that should tell you something\u2026..\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Emphasis mine.\u00a0 That was FOUR YEARS AGO.\u00a0 The industry was selling steroids (modified to be orally available), and everybody knew it.<\/p>\n

Including the FDA…<\/a><\/p>\n

March 9, 2006<\/p>\n

FDA Warns Manufacturers About Illegal Steroid Products Sold as Dietary Supplements<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned several manufacturers and distributors of unapproved drugs containing steroids that continued distribution and sale of these products without FDA approval could result in regulatory action including seizure and injunction. FDA is concerned that the use of these products, which are marketed as dietary supplements and promoted for building muscle and increasing strength, may cause serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children. These products claim to be anabolic and problems associated with anabolic steroids include: liver toxicity, testicular atrophy and male infertility, masculinization of women, breast enlargement in males, short stature in children, adverse effects on blood lipid levels, and a potential to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.<\/p>\n

\u201cFDA takes its responsibility to protect Americans from dangerous unapproved drugs seriously. Today\u2019s action is indicative of our resolve,\u201d said Margaret O\u2019K. Glavin, FDA\u2019s Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs.<\/p>\n

Consumers who have any of the products listed below should stop taking them and return them to their place of purchase. FDA issued warning letters for the following so-called dietary supplement products:<\/p>\n