NFL: Careful of clenbuterol in foreign steaks

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The favorite defense for cyclists caught doping – must have been that Mexican steak – is now being used to warn players in the U.S. National Football League.

FILE – In this Jan. 18, 2010 file photo, steaks and other beef products are displayed for sale at a grocery store in McLean, Va. Americans may not have to cut back on eggs and salt as much as they once thought. And eating lean meat is still OK. But watch the added sugars _ especially the sugary drinks. The Obama administration’s new dietary guidelines, released Jan. 7, 2016, back off the strictest sodium rules included in the last version, while still complaining that Americans consume too much salt. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The gridiron warriors are being warned about consuming meat produced in China and Mexico that potentially contains clenbuterol, which is banned under the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy.

The drug-testing program’s independent administrator sent a memo to players, saying “consuming large quantities of meat while visiting those particular countries may result in a positive test.”

Clenbuterol is a muscle-building and weight-loss stimulant.

The drug-testing program again advised: “Players are responsible for what is in their bodies.”

The Oakland Raiders will face the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football on Nov. 21 in Mexico City as part of the league’s international series. The Raiders also hosted a fan fest as part of the NFL draft this past Saturday in Mexico City.

Texans left tackle Duane Brown actually tested positive for clenbuterol last season after a bye-week trip to Mexico during which he ate Mexican beef, sources told ESPN.

Sample-based data model extended to veterinary drug residues

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Douglas Powell

As two Australian Football League players (the ice hockey of footie) claim their positive tests for clenbuterol came from steak consumed in New Zealand (that’s just scientifically BS, as cyclist Alberto Contador proved in 2010 ), the European Food Safety Authority is extending the use of its harmonised sample-based data reporting model to the collection of data on veterinary medicinal product residues in animals and animal products.

Sample-based reporting using standardized description elements is already used to collect occurrence data from Member States in areas such as food additives, chemical contaminants, pesticide residues and antimicrobial resistance.

Monitoring data on veterinary medicinal product (VMP) residues are currently submitted annually in an aggregated format to a database maintained by the European Commission. EFSA then examines the data and presents the results in annual reports. However, aggregation does not lend itself to complex statistical analysis and is of limited value for quantitative exposure and risk assessments. The move to direct collection of data in a sample-based format will enable EFSA and the European Commission to tackle questions related to the risk assessment and risk management of VMP residues.

Tainted food in China cited in cyclist’s failed doping test

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Using the Contador defense, an Australian cyclist who tested positive for clenbuterol has had a potential ban from the sport lifted after the sport’s governing body said he probably consumed the substance accidentally during a race in China.

Michael Rogers, an Olympic bronze medalist, was stripped of his victory at the Japan Cup Cycle Road Race in October 2013 after a positive test for clenbuterol. The drug, which increases the rate of fat burning and helps build muscle, is illicitly used by farmers in China and other countries on pigs and cattle to produce leaner meat.

The International Cycling Union, known by its French initials U.C.I., said Wednesday that Rogers’s disqualification in that race would stand but that any further sanctions would be dropped as “there was a significant probability that the presence of clenbuterol may have resulted from the consumption of contaminated meat from China.”

Clenbuterol has been a recurring problem in China. In 2006, more than 300 people in Shanghai fell ill from eating meat heavily tainted with the substance, which is also known in Chinese as “shou rou jing,” or “lean meat powder.” Three years later, 70 people in the southern city of Guangzhou were sickened after eating pork organs tainted with the drug.

Clenbuterol: vet drug not just for elite athletes any more

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Clenbuterol was never just for elite athletes, veterinarians could get it whenever they wanted.

But the Gold Coast Bulletin, the number one source for surf news in Australia, reports that bodybuilders, athletes and slimmers are misusing a livestock drug, putting them at risk of serious health problems.

Research reveals the use of veterinary drug clenbuterol has spread from elite athletes to the general public.

A rising number of Australians are calling poison hotlines with racing hearts, nausea, vomiting, tremors and anxiety.

There has also been one reported cardiac arrest in a young man linked to the drug.

Clenbuterol is predominantly used to treat respiratory illnesses in horses and, in some countries, it’s still used illegally to increase lean meat in food-producing animals.

Many Gold Coasters, striving to get the perfectly lean body, are using Clenbuterol with it relatively easy to access on the black market through gyms.

The study by the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital’s Dr Jonathan Brett and researchers from the NSW Poisons Information Centre found 63 calls for help about the drug from 2004-2009.

Most patients were using it for slimming and bodybuilding and had to be hospitalized.

The performance-enhancing drug made headlines when it was popular among elite athletes, with cyclist Alberto Contador and sprinter Katrin Krabbe receiving bans.

In humans, it’s used to boost aerobic capacity, the body’s ability to transport oxygen and metabolize fat.

Don’t go blaming no Spanish beef, wipe that smirk off your face; Contador stripped of 2010 Tour de France title, banned 2 years

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Perpetually smirking Alberto Contador has been stripped of his 2010 Tour de France victory and banned from cycling for two years after the sport’s highest court found the Spanish cyclist guilty of doping.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the three-time Tour champion after rejecting his claim that his positive test for clenbuterol was caused by eating contaminated meat.

CAS backdated Contador’s ban and he is eligible to return to competition on Aug. 6.

Contador blamed steak bought from a Basque producer for his high reading of clenbuterol, which is sometimes used by farmers to fatten up their livestock.

CAS said both the meat contamination theory and a blood transfusion scenario for the positive test were “possible” but “equally unlikely.”

“The Panel found that there were no established facts that would elevate the possibility of meat contamination to an event that could have occurred on a balance of probabilities,” CAS said. “Unlike certain other countries, notably outside Europe, Spain is not known to have a contamination problem with clenbuterol in meat. Furthermore, no other cases of athletes having tested positive to clenbuterol allegedly in connection with the consumption of Spanish meat are known.”

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, who finished second at the 2010 Tour, stands to be elevated to victory.

Cyclist Contador says clenbuterol came from contaminated meat, not doping

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Blame it on the steak.

Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador went to sport’s highest court on Monday to argue his case that contaminated meat caused his positive drug test at the 2010 Tour de France.

Contador did not speak to reporters as he arrived at the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a four-day hearing into one of the most scrutinized doping cases of recent years.

Contador’s legal team will argue that a contaminated steak he ate on a rest day in the Pyrenees caused his positive test for clenbuterol, a banned anabolic agent.

If found guilty of doping, Contador can expect to receive a two-year ban and be stripped of his 2010 Tour title and his 2011 Giro d’Italia victory.

About 20 witnesses are expected to appear at the hearing, including the Spanish butcher who sold the steak, a polygraph expert and anti-doping scientists.

The three-man arbitration panel, composed of Israeli chairman Efraim Barak, German law professor Ulrich Haas and Geneva-based lawyer Quentin Byrne-Sutton, is likely to issue its verdict in January.

Meat on steroids, not players; Contador rejoices; doping case dropped against Mexico soccer players

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Five Mexican soccer players who tested positive for clenbuterol before the Gold Cup will not face sanctions after FIFA determined the tests were caused by contaminated meat.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday it had dropped its appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where it planned to challenge a Mexico Football Federation decision clearing the players of doping.

WADA said it accepted FIFA’s "compelling evidence" from the recent Under-17 World Cup in Mexico that the country has a "serious health problem" with meat contaminated with clenbuterol.

WADA said Mexico’s government has agreed to address the issue of farmers giving steroids to livestock, which is illegal.

"Already several arrests have been made pursuant to these laws and large amounts of clenbuterol seized. Investigations are to continue," WADA said.

German table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov tested positive after competing in China, which also has long-standing issues with illegally feeding steroids to livestock.

Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will use the same argument as part of his defense at CAS next month.

Contador’s four-day hearing is scheduled to begin Nov. 21.

Déjà vu – five Mexican players test positive for clenbuterol

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Douglas Powell

A month ago five Mexican players were sent home before the start of Gold Cup for testing positive for trace levels of clenbuterol, a prohibited anabolic substance.

Friday, four more players tested positive for the same substance. Health officials insisted Mexican beef doesn’t contain clenbuterol and that the incidence of contaminated beef is one in a million. They are either lying, or the Mexican soccer team is the unluckiest group of people ever. Once again, we’ll have to wait for the official investigation to be over.

Reminds me of a CSNY song.

Gonzalo Erdozain: Clenbuterol in beef and soccer; the blame game begins

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Douglas Powell

The governing body CONCACAF suspended five Mexican players from the Gold Cup – that’s a soccer tournament for hockey lovers – for failing drug tests.

The players blame the beef.

Mexico’s Health Department on Friday said that their beef does not contain clenbuterol and that the incidence of contaminated beef in the country is less than 1 in a million.

Until the investigation is over, we’ll never know. This blame game is all too familiar; blaming something or someone without data to support claims will often end in a prolonged process, which wastes money and precious time that could be used to find the real source of the problem.

Cyclist positive for clenbuterol, claims contamination

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Another cyclist has been caught eating at the Mark McGwire café and another is blaming Mexican meat for testing positive for clenbuterol.

The Danish cycling federation Tuesday revealed that Philip Nielsen, 23 (right, exactly as shown), of the continental Concordia team, tested positive for clenbuterol during the 2010 Vuelta a Mexico.

Nielsen won stage 8 of the Mexican tour in April and both A and B samples have come back positive. His case now is making its way through the Danish disciplinary process.

Nielsen claims he was not doping, but did offer an excuse of how the banned product found its way into his system.

Italian Alessandro Colo also tested positive, but he claimed that his test was triggered by eating contaminated meat in Mexico.

The Nielsen case comes as Spanish officials consider what to do with Alberto ~~douchebag~~ Contador (left), who is facing a two-year ban and disqualification of his Tour de France crown after he tested positive for the substance en route to winning last year’s Tour.

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