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1 2 - 0 2 - 2 0 0 5 New drug may have BALCO link
BY ELLIOTT ALMOND AND SEAN WEBBY
SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - Authorities have discovered similarities between a new designer steroid confiscated in Canada and the drug at the heart of the BALCO Laboratories scandal, leading one drug-testing expert to say that they were produced by the same laboratory. Two sources familiar with the BALCO investigation told the San Jose Mercury News the confiscated steroid - desoxy-methyl testosterone, or DMT - was found in packaging similar to that of THG. And on the day the identification of the drug was made public, authorities said it had chemical similarities to THG, the BALCO designer steroid.
"It is coming from the same source," said Christiane Ayotte, who helped identify DMT at the Montreal drug-testing laboratory she directs.
Two sources told the Mercury News, on condition of anonymity, that the evidence suggests the person was Patrick Arnold, an Illinois chemist. He is known as the creator of "prohormones," the steroid precursors such as androstenedione that were banned last month by the federal government. Arnold declined comment Friday when asked whether he had anything to do with the new drug or with THG. He has not been charged with any crime. U.S. federal investigators say BALCO founder Victor Conte Jr. claims Arnold supplied him with THG. U.S. drug testers have said Arnold introduced the first designer steroid - norbolethone - to athletes in the 1990s. The discovery of the new drug, which the World Anti-Doping Agency made public last week, is a reminder that even as the BALCO case progresses and baseball tightens its steroid policies, underground manufacturers continue to make new drugs that elude detection. Officials suspect DMT was meant to be the next generation of THG, which was discovered in 2003 after track coach Trevor Graham gave drug testers a syringe with traces of the substance. DMT is not believed to have been used by any athletes. Authorities found DMT in December 2003, when they arrested Canadian sprinter Derek Dueck trying to cross the border with a vial of the drug. Dueck also had a vial of THG and 70 vials of human growth hormone, a Canada Border Services Agency spokesman said Friday. By the time the Canadians caught Dueck, American officials already had discovered THG, a steroid designed to break up during drug testing. Four Oakland Raiders and five track and field athletes tested positive for THG in 2003. According to the two sources, an important link between the new steroid and Arnold is a handwritten label on the bottle of DMT, which reads "New Stuff." One source said the handwriting looked similar to Arnold's on material connected to BALCO. Both sources said Arnold called the creations with which they were familiar "Stuff." Among the evidence U.S. agents collected in the BALCO investigation are references to "Tren stuff" and "T stuff," thought to be names for THG. Tren refers to the steroid trenbolone. Conte called THG "the clear." According to a document obtained by the Mercury News, Conte wrote an e-mail to a Greek coach in August 2002, referring to Arnold as "the clearman." The two sources said the packages Canadian customs officials confiscated resembled those collected as evidence in the BALCO case. Ayotte said the white plastic bottle with the label "New Stuff" looked "exactly" like one she had previously examined containing norbolethone. There is only one norbolethone case on record: Cyclist Tammy Thomas was banned in 2002 for testing positive. Officials said Arnold was the source. Thomas, called before the grand jury investigating BALCO, said prosecutors asked her about Arnold, whom she said she did not know. In 2002, Arnold told the Washington Post that he might have made norbolethone. Drug-testing authorities are constantly searching for new drugs. A U.S. Anti-Doping Agency official recently was in Raleigh, N.C., asking about one, according to a person who was questioned. "We know some others are being used," Ayotte said. "I have one in front of me right now. We are trying to prove what it is." Ayotte said she believes at least one drug maker is researching old studies and using them as models for new steroids. DMT, she said, could be found in scientific literature from the 1960s. American drug testers have known about DMT for the past year, Ayotte said. Although they could test for it, they did not announce it in hopes of catching athletes using it. Ayotte said she wanted to make DMT's existence public to warn athletes against using something potentially dangerous. "The athletes must be protected from this," she said. 0 1 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 En of er een link is
De bron van THG is ook die van DMT. Dat ontdekte Don Catlin, de dopingjager van Wada, die voor de dopingautoriteit de aangetroffen monsters uit Canada heeft onderzocht. Uit dat onderzoek, dat om de één of andere reden apart is uitgevoerd van dat van Ayotte, werd duidelijk dat DMT geen nieuw middel is. Het is in de vroege jaren zestig beschreven in wetenschappelijke artikelen. Catlin noemde het Madol. In de monsters die Catlin onderzocht zat ook THG.
Gezien het proces waarlangs je DMT maakt, en gezien de geringe hoeveelheden die Catlin aantrof, denkt de onderzoeker niet dat THG als bijproduct is ontstaan.
Als het een verontreiniging is, kan dat maar één ding betekenen. DMT komt ergens vandaan waar ook THG aanwezig was. Bron Sekera MH, Ahrens BD, Chang YC, Starcevic B, Georgakopoulos C, Catlin DH. Another designer steroid: discovery, synthesis, and detection of 'madol' in urine. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2005;19(6):781-4. [Link]
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
