The Portrait of an "Olympic Host": China is the Largest Supplier of
Illicit Steroid -- U.S. exposes illicit China steroid sales/IHT

International Herald Tribune

U.S. exposes illicit China steroid sales

By Duff Wilson and Michael S. Schmidt

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The federal authorities in the United States have announced the exposure
of a sprawling underground distribution network for steroids, human
growth hormone and other illicit bodybuilding drugs supplied by 37
companies in China.

The operation, disclosed on Monday, revealed a much wider, more diffuse
commerce in performance-enhancing drugs than previously known, with a
latticework of bathroom and basement manufacturers and distributors.
That contrasted with the more centralized drug network from past years
that tapped into established pharmaceutical pipelines.

A network of Internet-based chemical wholesalers, anonymous e-mail
services and password-protected chat rooms fueled the trade, federal and
state officials said. "There is no kingpin here," said Steve Robertson,
a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington.
"We're going after individual distribution cells. There's no godfather
of steroids."

The drug agency estimates that 99 percent of the illegal steroids
originate with chemicals from China.

Most of the 124 who were arrested in the operation - including 50 over
the past week - were charged with distributing chemicals bought in bulk
from China, which as host of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing has
been under pressure to deliver a drug-free Games. They are accused of
setting up labs in their homes, notably on Long Island, just east of New
York City, to press them into pills or cook them into injectable
liquids, the agency said.

Sales of the products, which are illegal to buy without a prescription
and illegal to sell without a license from the agency, were conducted
with presumed anonymity on the Internet. Drug enforcement agents are
compiling a computerized database of thousands of buyers.

No users of the drugs were identified on Monday, but the agency said it
was trying to establish their identities and might share that
information with professional sports leagues and anti-doping officials
if their athletes are involved.

"They may not all be prosecuted, but we will be identifying them," said
John Gilbride, a special agent in charge of the agency's office in New
York. "We have names. We have addresses. We have thousands of names, but
I cannot give you an exact number."

The FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the National Drug Intelligence
Center and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency
also worked on the two-year investigation, called Operation Raw Deal. In
addition to the United States and China, eight other countries were
involved in the investigation.

The authorities seized $6.5 million cash, 25 vehicles, 3 boats, 27 pill
presses and 71 weapons while executing 143 search warrants at 56
makeshift steroid labs and other locations, the drug enforcement agency
said. Two distribution rings on Long Island alone accounted for more
than $13.5 million in steroids, Gilbride said. One of the suspects, a
36-year-old Melville man arrested Sept. 12 with his mother and wife,
committed suicide last week. The family's lawyer did not return
telephone messages.

The investigation grew out of a similar investigation into Mexican
steroid manufacturers that targeted eight companies in 2005. At the
time, the drug enforcement agency said Mexico provided 82 percent of
illicit steroids seized in the United States, often in veterinary form.
The void created the opportunity for American producers and distributors.

Although most of the Chinese companies involved remain unidentified, one
of them, GeneScience Pharmaceutical, and its chief executive, Lei Jin,
were indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Rhode Island.

GeneScience says it supplies three-fourths of the Chinese human growth
hormone market.

Gilbride, the drug enforcement agent in New York, said Chinese officials
were cooperating as the investigation continued around the world.

The drug case comes at a time when the quality of imports to the United
States from China has become an issue between the two countries. Tens of
thousands of toys made in China have been recalled in recent weeks on
suspicion of having an unacceptably high level of lead in paint and
other hazards for small children. Some Chinese-made toothpaste was found
to contain a chemical usually used in automotive antifreeze and not
intended for human consumption.

The drug enforcement agency administrator, Karen Tandy, said in a
prepared statement, "Today, we reveal the truth behind the underground
steroid market: dangerous drugs cooked all too often in filthy
conditions with no regard to safety, giving Americans who purchase them
the ultimate raw deal."

In related actions, the police in Denmark raided 26 locations, and the
German authorities closed down 5 illicit labs. Australia, Belgium,
Sweden and Thailand also conducted enforcement actions, the agency said.

Officials at Major League Baseball and the National Football League said
Monday that they would seek information from the investigation that
connected any of their players to performance-enhancing drugs.

Rusty Payne, a drug agency spokesman in Washington, said: "If we come
across names, are we going to provide them to the leagues? That is going
to be the decision of the Department of Justice and the United States
attorney's offices that have those aspects of the case."

The anti-doping authorities in sports praised the actions.

"This investigation has shown that the use of performance-enhancing
drugs is an international problem and not just a sports issue but
touches all levels of society," Travis Tygart, the chief executive of
the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said in a telephone interview.

David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which
oversees testing for the Olympics, said he was optimistic that any
athletes connected to the investigation could be disciplined before next
summer's Olympics.

Drug enforcement agency officials said the steroid trade in the United
States centered on bodybuilding. Products, prices and doses for
underground laboratory steroids are discussed on Internet forums.

William K. Rashbaum and Bruce Lambert contributed reporting.

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