lab raided...did anyone read this

**house71** · 02-03-2004, 11:16 PM

Last September, Balco Labs, a small supplement company in Burlingame California, was raided by federal agents. Balco is probably best known for their testosterone boosting supplement ZMA a formulation containing zinc and magnesium. Supposedly, dozens of agents were seen carrying boxes of documents and equipment from the lab's headquarters, but no arrests were made. The raid was led by the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division and included members of the San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force.

The raid on Balco has now exploded into the biggest steroid scandal in history and rocked the world of sports. The height of the scandal was reached when President Bush attacked doping by sports figures in his State of the Union address.

A little over a week ago, federal grand jury testimony resumed in the Balco Lab case that turned sports doping into a front-page story.

In early September, Balco Labs, its president, Victor Conte Jr., and the condominium of Greg Anderson, the personal trainer to Giants' slugger Barry Bonds, were raided by law enforcement officials - including IRS agents. Balco President Conte and Anderson are targets of a federal probe in which a who's-who list of prominent athletes has been subpoenaed.

Among those who have testified are Giants slugger Bonds, New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi, swimmer Amy Van Dyken, Raiders linebacker Bill Romanowski and gold medallist track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

POLL: How did Bush's comments on Steroids change your opinion after his State of the Union speech?

I was a Bush supporter, but changed my mind about him after his comments on steroids in his State of the Union speech.
I was a Bush supporter, and I am still a Bush supporter after his comments on steroids in his State of the Union speech.
I was not a Bush supporter, but I became a Bush supporter after his State of the Union speech.
I was not a Bush supporter and I am still not a Bush supporter.
Vote and see the poll results.

Also connected to Conte, according to Balco's Web site, are bodybuilders Ronnie Coleman, Flex Wheeler and Mike Ashley. Coleman, a former Mr. Olympia, claims he never received banned substances from Balco. "It was a vitamin and mineral supplement," he said.

The event that led to the raid however was not a zinc and magnesium supplement. Rather, the controversy was touched off when a mysterious syringe was sent via overnight mail to Colorado Springs, and then on to UCLA pharmacology professor Don Catlin, the director of the Olympic Drug Testing Center.

"Nobody has ever brought us a syringe before and said 'Here, find out what's in it,'" Catlin says. "It's a chemical whodunit, a needle in a haystack."

Catlin's team of eight scientists used a mass spectrometer to create a molecular map of the substance and determine if it was in fact a drug. One of their first tests was positive for testosterone leading them down the anabolic steroid path. Once the mapping was completed, Catlin's team named the drug tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. It was similar in structure to two other anabolic steroids already on the banned substances list, gestrinone and trenbolone -- which I've written about extensively in my articles on Fina conversion. Fina Conversion Article 1 - Fina Conversion Article 2.

"We are fairly certain that the substance came from Victor Conte and BALCO Labs," said Terry Madden, CEO of USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency). "We are not sure of their exact role - there may have been many other people involved."

To be more specific, creating a new designer steroid would require bio-chemists sophisticated enough to create a new anabolic, molecularly close to existing steroids, yet remain undetectable by current doping tests.

USADA officials then rechecked 350 urine samples taken at track and field events over the summer for THG. Madden would not provide a number, but said, "I know of no other drug bust that is larger than this involving the number of athletes involved."

Rick Collins, famed Anabolic Steroid Attorney wrote on the Discussion Boards:

"THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) is a steroid substance bearing similarities to gestrinone, a banned Olympic substance but not a controlled substance or "anabolic steroid" as defined by federal law. However, the FDA has formally declared that THG meets the definition of an unapproved drug. Therefore, it cannot at this time be purchased for human consumption in the U.S. and would now be illegal to sell for that purpose." Read the thread...

The World Anti-Doping Agency is catching up. Athletes participating in this year's Athens Olympics were warned last week that tests for previously undetectable substances would be developed in time for the Games.
"There will be new substances detected in Athens, there's no question on that," World Anti-Doping Agency science director Olivier Rabin told a doping seminar at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
ZMA from Balco Labs

Balco Labs became known for their work with the supplement ZMA.

Balco conducted exhaustive tests with 21 professional bodybuilders and most of the Denver Broncos football team, and all their findings confirmed Balco Labs' theories. Based on their findings, Balco Labs developed a supplement, called "ZMA." They've also been able to determine that the best dose is 30 mg of zinc and 450 mg of magnesium taken once per day (three capsules taken between dinner and bed time).

The studies show that by supplementing your diet with specific amounts of zinc and magnesium, you can elevate testosterone levels by as much as 30 percent. Their studies have just been accepted for publication in Sports Medicine, Training, and Rehabilitation Journal.

Furthermore, Balco's star client, Giants slugger Barry Bonds, raved about Balco's work with a zinc and magnesium supplement known as "ZMA" in the June Muscle & Fitness magazine. Check out ZMA at EliteFitnessNutrition.com and FREE Super Saver Shipping.
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"We are working on final tests. We are working on equipment. They will be distributed to laboratories."

Rabin said tests for GH (growth hormone ) were almost complete as well as tests for blood doping. Back in 2001, I was one of the first to report on elite athletes use of Modafinil for training. Now there is a test for Modafinil.

But even with all the new drug tests coming online, ironically, the existence of the THG steroid would undoubtedly not be known if a track coach who has not been identified had not stepped forward. He gave the syringe to anti-doping officials in Colorado, who sent it to Dr. Catlin.

According to Catlin, there are many undetectable steroids also made in underground labs and currently being used by Elite athletes today. THG is just the tip of the iceberg.

**Mealticket** · 02-03-2004, 11:26 PM

ain't that some s****

**Slangin Roids** · 02-03-2004, 11:43 PM

very good read

never heard of gestrinone or Modafinil though... can anyone fill me in?

**house71** · 02-03-2004, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by Slangin Roids

very good read

never heard of gestrinone or Modafinil though... can anyone fill me in?

gestrinone http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/sh...hreadid=292043

modafinil http://www.elitefitness.com/articledata/efn/121701.html

**ironfist** · 02-04-2004, 12:09 AM

That's old ass news...

**J*U*icEd** · 02-04-2004, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by ironfist

That's old ass news...

bro long time!!

**house71** · 02-04-2004, 12:43 AM

ok..just asking a question

**Roidfever** · 02-04-2004, 01:55 AM

American 200m gold medallist Kelly White was caught during the world championships in Paris last year for the use of modafinil. She claimed the medicine kept her awake cause she suffered from a certain disease that made her sleepy all the time...

**armwrestler22** · 02-04-2004, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by ironfist

That's old ass news...

yeah, someone didnt hit the search button but still tried to impress everyone. i'd also appreciate if you didnt further address this topic since i know both victor and greg. greg is my high-school friend's step father and a personal trainer at the gym i go to: bay area fitness in burlingame(right around the corner from balco labs) and victor is a frequent customer at my mother's restaurant. they were in the limelight several months ago and i'd appreciate it if further attention wasn't brought to them even in our close brotherhood here on AR. thank you, and i don't meen to offend anyone, just a personal favor to try to keep them out of the public eye, since they are both ruglar people just like you and I.

**LuvMuhRoids** · 02-04-2004, 04:40 AM

Yah, Im the one that posted this article in the News forum several months ago. If you do a search it's probably me.

Originally Posted by ironfist

That's old ass news...

**house71** · 02-04-2004, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by armwrestler22

yeah, someone didnt hit the search button but still tried to impress everyone. i'd also appreciate if you didnt further address this topic since i know both victor and greg. greg is my high-school friend's step father and a personal trainer at the gym i go to: bay area fitness in burlingame(right around the corner from balco labs) and victor is a frequent customer at my mother's restaurant. they were in the limelight several months ago and i'd appreciate it if further attention wasn't brought to them even in our close brotherhood here on AR. thank you, and i don't meen to offend anyone, just a personal favor to try to keep them out of the public eye, since they are both ruglar people just like you and I.

sorry about that

**DF2003** · 02-04-2004, 08:35 AM

no need for an apology bro, you were just posting a read. armwrestler sounds like your the one trying to impress people with your friendship
with victor and greg. c'mon man no need to get on this guys ass for posting an old subject. if you dont want the balco thing brought up for your friends sake i think you could get him to easily delete with a pm rather than a tongue lashing reply. ps. im not tryin to be a dick but there is no need to beat this guy up.

**DF2003** · 02-04-2004, 08:38 AM

and yea LMR did post this awhile ago.

http://anabolicreview.com/vbulletin/...ighlight=balco

**RussianVodka** · 02-04-2004, 09:45 AM

old news, bro

**bermich** · 02-04-2004, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by armwrestler22

yeah, someone didnt hit the search button but still tried to impress everyone. i'd also appreciate if you didnt further address this topic since i know both victor and greg. greg is my high-school friend's step father and a personal trainer at the gym i go to: bay area fitness in burlingame(right around the corner from balco labs) and victor is a frequent customer at my mother's restaurant. they were in the limelight several months ago and i'd appreciate it if further attention wasn't brought to them even in our close brotherhood here on AR. thank you, and i don't meen to offend anyone, just a personal favor to try to keep them out of the public eye, since they are both ruglar people just like you and I.

Thats BULL****. There is no way people should be told to do a search before they post a thread. BULL****. Now I think I will post threads on the olderst threads here just because...
If he was quoting from an article and names were already posted in it, then it is fair game. Im sure everyone on these boards knows someone in the news regardling steroids . That is what this board is about. You cant tell someone not to post a thread because you know someone in the article. Nothing would get posted if that were the case.

I see SO MANY threads posting articles with old news. SO WHAT. No one says anything about those. Maybe there was something new not discussed.

I will stop there.

**Jackman** · 02-04-2004, 02:54 PM

that was allll over the news

**fame2002** · 02-04-2004, 02:59 PM

um.....yeah.....that happended months ago bro. thanks anyway.

**motoxxxguy** · 02-04-2004, 03:15 PM

I guess Sports Center is out of the question for the next few days again, huh? When this originally came out, all the could talk about was THG this and THG that for what seemed like a week. The media and general public are both equally ignorant in this area.

-moto

**house71** · 02-04-2004, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by bermich

Thats BULL****. There is no way people should be told to do a search before they post a thread. BULL****. Now I think I will post threads on the olderst threads here just because...
If he was quoting from an article and names were already posted in it, then it is fair game. Im sure everyone on these boards knows someone in the news regardling steroids . That is what this board is about. You cant tell someone not to post a thread because you know someone in the article. Nothing would get posted if that were the case.

I see SO MANY threads posting articles with old news. SO WHAT. No one says anything about those. Maybe there was something new not discussed.

I will stop there.

thanks..

to everybody else
if you don't like the post don't read it