Steroid discovered in Merriman illegal in U.S., By: Michael Schmidt
October 26, 2006
The steroid that a lawyer for San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman said was found in Merriman's urine cannot be legally obtained in the United States.
The lawyer, David Cornwell, said the steroid nandrolone ended up in Merriman's system from a tainted supplement. But under NFL rules, players are responsible for positive tests regardless of the products they take.
Nandrolone has been banned in supplements since 1990, and precursors to it, such as 19-norandrostenedione, have been prohibited since January 2005. Nandrolone's precursors could be found in old supplements or in products from other countries where the product is not banned, according to drug-testing experts.
Merriman, 22, was the 2005 Defensive Rookie of the Year and has become a pass-rushing force for the Chargers, with 15 1/2 sacks in his first 21 games as a pro. He is still playing while appealing a four-game suspension for his violation of the league's substance-abuse policy. A hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 7.
"I don't think there's a player in the National Football League that doesn't use nutritional supplements," Cornwell told reporters earlier this week. "They don't realize that they're playing Russian roulette with their career. You have manufacturers out there that are putting bullets essentially into the canisters for these supplements, and they're not being held accountable."
Cornwell declined to name the supplement or the manufacturer in Merriman's case and would not say whether it was a league-certified product.
The use of largely unregulated over-the-counter supplements is so widespread that the NFL certifies five products made by Experimental and Applied Sciences Inc., of Golden, Colo., as free of prohibitive substances. The products include bars, drinks and powders marketed under the Myoplex brand.
Adolpho A. Birch III, who oversees the NFL's drug testing, said players would be held accountable for positive tests regardless of supplements they took.
"The league provides tested supplements that are assured they are not tainted," Birch said.
If the supplement in Merriman's case contained nandrolone, the manufacturer would be in violation of federal law, said Dr. Gary Wadler, an associate professor of medicine at New York University who also works with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Individuals can inject themselves with an oil that includes nandrolone, but that has not been a popular method for 20 years. Such an injection kept the steroid in the body for up to a year and would not be the preferred choice of an athlete subjected to frequent testing.
Dr. Donald Catlin, the director of the Olympic drug-testing laboratory at UCLA, which also handles testing for the NFL and other organizations, said positive tests for nandrolone across all sports peaked in 2001.
