Tests found lead, tin, arsenic and a cancer-causing cattle fattener mixed in with steroids The Courant bought over the Internet.
Dangerous. That was the first word out of the scientist's mouth after seeing test results on three batches of anabolic steroids bought from black market websites in Poland, Spain and Moldova. Reckless was another description. Poison, a third.
Tests by a team at Northeast Laboratories in Berlin, led by William Ullmann, showed a small amount of lead in one of the steroid samples, a liquid injectable that users shoot into their muscle.
Traces of a banned, cancer-causing cattle fattener were found in a second sample. A third steroid proved to be nearly twice as concentrated as the amount on the label, raising overdose concerns. A fourth was labeled as one steroid, but was another.
A fifth sample contained traces of a flammable liquid used in the production of plastics.
This is why federal agents, drug prosecutors and drug-industry regulators say they find Internet steroids terrifying.