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Drug Lord 2 Cheats

Human growth hormone, which was found in the baggage of Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan before the World Championships, can help a swimmer build muscle tissue, resulting in significant gains in strength and size.

Growth hormone comes in a wide variety of forms, including human growth hormone (hGH). It is a concentrated form of a naturally produced hormone that helps the body build muscle tissue. Its application results in significant gains in strength and size by stimulating production of muscle cells and strengthening connective tissue and tendons.

There is, as yet, no test that conclusively reveals the presence of this form of doping. The form of the drug thought to have been found in the luggage of Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan just before the World Championships in January was confirmed as being labeled Somatotropin, which is included on the list of banned substances.

Doctors at St. Thomas' Hospital London and also in Sydney, Australia and in Switzerland have been working on a project, code-named GH2000, to establish a credible test for hGH. The research is said to be costing one billion Eurodollars (about 1.09 billion U.S. dollars). Novo Nordisk in Denmark believes it has found a way of detecting the substance in blood (see page 12).

Ken Fitch, a member of the FINA medical commission, said that just 16 international units (IU) of hGH cost $304 in Australia ($204 in U.S.), making this a very expensive form of cheating. A patient in need of the drug for health purposes would need a maximum of 20 IU per square meter of body mass. Dr. Fitch described the 13 vials, which were backed up by 13 vials of diluting liquid to help apply the drug, in the Chinese luggage as representing "a significant amount for more than one person." Other experts were more precise in describing the 13 vials as more than enough for five swimmers for two weeks.

Of the GH2000 research, he said, "The problem is that hGH has a short `half-life' (being absorbed by the body), and it is hard to find a marker that shows there has been some other change in metabolism that indicates an abnormality as a result of taking hGH."

Side effects of hGH abuse include diabetes, liver damage, elongation of the jaw line and bone damage.

The AGAL report says that a red and white flask found in Yuan's luggage contained a plastic bag containing 13 sealed glass vials, each labeled Novo Nordisk, Norditropin 12 IU, Human Somotropin, biosynthetic human growth hormone for "SC or injection."

Five of the sealed glasses were further labeled with batch numbers and four others labeled with the date of manufacture, varying from August 1996 to May 1997 and each with a two-year expiration limit. One batch was said to have already degraded. Each vial measured about 4.3 cm. in length and 2.1 cm. in diameter and was halffilled with a fine white powder.

Another 13 vials were labeled solvent for Norditrophin 12 IU, containing 9 mg. of benzyl alcohol. These vials, all with batch numbers, were about 3.8 cm. in length and 1.5 cm. in diameter. Each was filled to the neck with a clear liquid.

The testing procedure, electrospray mass spectrometry, was assisted by Dr. Lindsey Mackay at the St. Vincents Hospital, Sydney Ltd. Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Sydney.

Dr. Thord Rosen, a Ph.D. in endocrinology, presented a paper on human growth hormone (hGH) to FINA at a drug congress in Gothenburg, Sweden last spring. Dr. Rosen concluded that sports drug abusers took between 10 and 25 international units (IU) of hGH per day three or four times a week. This compares with a medical dose given to patients with a natural hormone deficiency of 1 to 2 IU a day. Dr. Rosen believed that there were athletes taking hGH in combination with anabolic steroids. In such cases, the athletes were using 2 to 5 IU a day.

A medical source in Perth reported that drug cheats would take steroids for as long as they could. However, at times when they might be caught or had to come off steroids, they would resort to hGH to retain the muscle bulk gained through using steroids.

On the evidence of the AGAL report, he said that there did not appear to be enough hGH for the entire Chinese team at the World Championships in Perth for use over a period of at least a week.

Raising a note of concern about the health of the Chinese swimmers, another doctor said that those who take hGH cannot simply stop taking it. "Once a program has started, it usually needs maintaining in some way, with smaller doses administered. If these swimmers have been taking this, and it has now been denied to them, then they will be suffering withdrawal symptoms, including a general feeling of having absolutely no energy at all."

That is because the body's natural production of such hormones would have shut down during the introduction of synthetic hormones. When the externally administered hormones are no longer given, the body takes time to adjust back to normal, much reduced production.

About the Author

Carig Lord of The London Times is a Swimming World's European correspondent.

Copyright Sports Publications, Inc. Apr 1998
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