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HGH and Heart Attacks
Interesting article from the Guardian.
IOC 'four years late' catching cheats Duncan Mackay - Athletics Correspondent Sunday August 8, 2004 The Observer Olympics chiefs could have introduced a test for the most widely abused drug in sport four years ago, but instead allowed athletes to continue using it without fear of detection, according to a leading British scientist. Professor Peter Sonksen, who did much of the work on trying to find ways to catch athletes using human growth hormone - known as 'the drug of champions' and particularly popular among sprinters - says the International Olympic Committee shied away from taking a hard-line stance 'for political reasons'. Human growth hormone (HGH) can trigger huge increases in muscle growth and has been around for about 20 years. While it has been widely used by athletes in several sports, officials have struggled to come up with a test for it. Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is confident that a new method of detecting the substance will be available when the Olympics open in Athens in five days, following extensive and expensive worldwide research, including at Southampton University. But Professor Sonksen, who carried out four years of research into the drug at St Thomas' Hospital, London before the Sydney Olympics, says, 'There is nothing new in the [2004] science, just the dotting of a few i's and crossing a few t's.' Sonksen headed a research project called GH2000, and claims that his team's findings delivered six months before the 2000 Games were as advanced as any subsequent work on growth hormone. 'It [the 2004 project] has made our work on GH2000 rock solid with more peer review,' he said. 'But there's no new science in it from what GH2000 delivered six months before the Sydney Olympics. I can say this now that I am no longer on the IOC anti-doping commission, but I feel very badly let down by the IOC. 'They gave us a $1million grant to finish off the work four years ago and then they took it away. It was all for political reasons, because of a disagreement between Prince Alexandre de Merode, the [then] head of the IOC's anti-doping commission, and Juan Antonio Samaranch [then IOC president]. 'Prince de Merode did a lot of good things during his time in office, but he also let himself down badly on a number of occasions. It was the Prince who got the funding for the research work in the first place, but if it wasn't for him taking back that grant, we could have had a growth hormone test in place four years ago.' HGH, which was originally developed to assist children with retarded growth, is believed to be especially popular with sprinters. Tim Montgomery, the world 100metres record holder, testified under oath in San Francisco last October that he had used the drug, as did Ben Johnson during a government inquiry in Canada 15 years ago. It has also been alleged by her former husband that the triple Olympic champion Marion Jones injected the drug before and during the Sydney Olympics. She has denied the claims of CJ Hunter, the 1999 world shot put champion. There have been several cases in the United States of former sports stars developing heart and liver complaints, and some cancers, leading to their deaths in their 40s and 50s. HGH is believed to also make the heart and other organs continue to grow, sometimes to unhealthy sizes. It is this that has left a shadow over the death, at just 38, of Florence Griffith Joyner. The American heroine of the 1988 Olympics died 10 years later after an apparent heart seizure in her sleep. Flo-Jo had transformed her body in her mid-20s and was later accused of using HGH. Her post-mortem showed some signs of excessive growth of her organs, including her heart. Her death may have been a direct result of drug use. Sonksen has also criticised UK Sport for forcing the head of its ethics department out of the organisation. Michele Verroken officially left the organisation last month after being effectively sacked because she had called for an independent anti-doping agency in Britain. 'Anti-doping in sport has been a huge mess for a long time. It is a very complicated and difficult area, but Michele has devoted her life to working on it. The way she was treated was disgraceful. UK Sport is a very political body and it seems to me that science and ethics comes a long way down its priority list. 'The United States Anti-Doping Agency was set up four years ago and is a tightly organised, well run body, but, most importantly, it is separate from the sports bodies and from those bodies that sponsor or fund the sports and that is the sort of thing we need in this country. 'An independent anti-doping agency was what Michele was arguing for and I am right behind her on that. But I suspect that was one of the reasons why they got rid of her. As a civil servant, she possibly spoke her mind too freely. 'But then, having politicians running sport is just bad news.' http://sport.guardian.co.uk/olympics...278571,00.html |
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#2
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HGH and Heart Attacks
On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 20:46:25 GMT, B. Lafferty wrote:
Interesting article from the Guardian. IOC 'four years late' catching cheats http://sport.guardian.co.uk/olympics...278571,00.html In the Economist on "Drugs and the Olympics": http://www.economist.com/printeditio...ory_ID=3062111 Is that the whole article..? Seems like an introduction to an article. |
#3
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HGH and Heart Attacks
Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 20:46:25 GMT, B. Lafferty wrote: Interesting article from the Guardian. IOC 'four years late' catching cheats http://sport.guardian.co.uk/olympics...278571,00.html In the Economist on "Drugs and the Olympics": http://www.economist.com/printeditio...ory_ID=3062111 Is that the whole article..? Seems like an introduction to an article. There is another article about 4 pages long further into the paper. I like the quote 'America is the new East Germany'... funnny to think of you guys driving Trabbies and mainlining steroids. |
#4
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HGH and Heart Attacks
David Off wrote: Ewoud Dronkert wrote: In the Economist on "Drugs and the Olympics": http://www.economist.com/printeditio...ory_ID=3062111 Is that the whole article..? Seems like an introduction to an article. There is another article about 4 pages long further into the paper. http://www.economist.com/world/displ...ory_id=3060826 don't know if that will be in depth enough for ewoud though (not being sarcastic here) h |
#5
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HGH and Heart Attacks
On Monday 09 August 2004 23:58, h squared wrote:
http://www.economist.com/world/displ...ory_id=3060826 don't know if that will be in depth enough for ewoud though (not being sarcastic here) Thanks. Interesting to note that the whole article is essentially a sales pitch for Pounding Dick's book. |
#6
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HGH and Heart Attacks
"B. Lafferty" wrote in message ink.net...
Interesting article from the Guardian. IOC 'four years late' catching cheats Duncan Mackay - Athletics Correspondent Sunday August 8, 2004 The Observer Olympics chiefs could have introduced a test for the most widely abused drug in sport four years ago, but instead allowed athletes to continue using it without fear of detection, according to a leading British scientist. Professor Peter Sonksen, who did much of the work on trying to find ways to catch athletes using human growth hormone - known as 'the drug of champions' and particularly popular among sprinters - says the International Olympic Committee shied away from taking a hard-line stance 'for political reasons'. Human growth hormone (HGH) can trigger huge increases in muscle growth and has been around for about 20 years. While it has been widely used by athletes in several sports, officials have struggled to come up with a test for it. Can someone please provide a scientific reference that backs up the claim that HGH triggers HUGE muscle growth? I was under the impression that only steroids did that. |
#7
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HGH and Heart Attacks
"PedalChick" wrote in message om... "B. Lafferty" wrote in message ink.net... Interesting article from the Guardian. IOC 'four years late' catching cheats Duncan Mackay - Athletics Correspondent Sunday August 8, 2004 The Observer Olympics chiefs could have introduced a test for the most widely abused drug in sport four years ago, but instead allowed athletes to continue using it without fear of detection, according to a leading British scientist. Professor Peter Sonksen, who did much of the work on trying to find ways to catch athletes using human growth hormone - known as 'the drug of champions' and particularly popular among sprinters - says the International Olympic Committee shied away from taking a hard-line stance 'for political reasons'. Human growth hormone (HGH) can trigger huge increases in muscle growth and has been around for about 20 years. While it has been widely used by athletes in several sports, officials have struggled to come up with a test for it. Can someone please provide a scientific reference that backs up the claim that HGH triggers HUGE muscle growth? I was under the impression that only steroids did that. That claim has apparently not been proved by any research. Stacking hGH with anabolic is another issue. A third issue is its possible effectiveness in promoting tissue repair making it possible to train harder. Even if hGH has no demonstrable effect, that doesn't mean its perceived effect doesn't drive elite athletes to use is. Take a look at: http://www.endocrine-society.gr/horm.../teyx37-45.pdf |
#8
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HGH and Heart Attacks
PedalChick wrote:
"B. Lafferty" wrote in message ink.net... Interesting article from the Guardian. IOC 'four years late' catching cheats Duncan Mackay - Athletics Correspondent Sunday August 8, 2004 The Observer Olympics chiefs could have introduced a test for the most widely abused drug in sport four years ago, but instead allowed athletes to continue using it without fear of detection, according to a leading British scientist. Professor Peter Sonksen, who did much of the work on trying to find ways to catch athletes using human growth hormone - known as 'the drug of champions' and particularly popular among sprinters - says the International Olympic Committee shied away from taking a hard-line stance 'for political reasons'. Human growth hormone (HGH) can trigger huge increases in muscle growth and has been around for about 20 years. While it has been widely used by athletes in several sports, officials have struggled to come up with a test for it. Can someone please provide a scientific reference that backs up the claim that HGH triggers HUGE muscle growth? I was under the impression that only steroids did that. Most of the sites referenced by google were either to anabolics producers or bodybuilding websites, but there were more credible ones too. HGH is, btw, a steroid. I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that it acted mostly as a glucocorticoid, since it has well-known diabetic effects, but it's GROWTH hormone--and growth is, uh, anabolic. See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract -- Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS http://www.dentaltwins.com Brooklyn, NY 718-258-5001 |
#9
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HGH and Heart Attacks
PedalChick wrote:
Can someone please provide a scientific reference that backs up the claim that HGH triggers HUGE muscle growth? I was under the impression that only steroids did that. Stop asking such awkward questions, you might ruin the party. Dick. |
#10
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HGH and Heart Attacks
"Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS" wrote in message ... PedalChick wrote: "B. Lafferty" wrote in message ink.net... Interesting article from the Guardian. IOC 'four years late' catching cheats Duncan Mackay - Athletics Correspondent Sunday August 8, 2004 The Observer Olympics chiefs could have introduced a test for the most widely abused drug in sport four years ago, but instead allowed athletes to continue using it without fear of detection, according to a leading British scientist. Professor Peter Sonksen, who did much of the work on trying to find ways to catch athletes using human growth hormone - known as 'the drug of champions' and particularly popular among sprinters - says the International Olympic Committee shied away from taking a hard-line stance 'for political reasons'. Human growth hormone (HGH) can trigger huge increases in muscle growth and has been around for about 20 years. While it has been widely used by athletes in several sports, officials have struggled to come up with a test for it. Can someone please provide a scientific reference that backs up the claim that HGH triggers HUGE muscle growth? I was under the impression that only steroids did that. Most of the sites referenced by google were either to anabolics producers or bodybuilding websites, but there were more credible ones too. HGH is, btw, a steroid. I was under the (apparently mistaken) impression that it acted mostly as a glucocorticoid, since it has well-known diabetic effects, but it's GROWTH hormone--and growth is, uh, anabolic. See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract -- It's not a steroid, it's a large protein. Why is it so hard for folks to refrain from posting things they don't truly know anything about? It only adds to someone else thinking they have learned the facts. -Mike |
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