October 29, 2003
You Too Can Design A Drug
The FDA has declared that THG is an illegal drug, not a dietary supplement. This is the part I find most interesting:
Exactly who developed THG is unclear. Dozens of top Olympic and professional athletes have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury probing a California lab that sells nutritional supplements. Its owner has denied supplying THG, and federal officials, including FDA's Taylor, refuse to comment on the scope of their investigation.
Troubling to lawmakers is that THG apparently was sneaked onto the market in the guise of a dietary supplement. It's not a supplement but an unapproved drug, making any sale or usage illegal, FDA's Taylor said.
Currently, however, "There's nothing to stop another group of folks in another lab from concocting another designer steroid that will circumvent this FDA ruling," said Joe Shoemaker, spokesman for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
So they are saying that something got into the food supply, and we don't even know who invented it? And with this type of
science getting easier to do, it won't be long before rich athletes have their own designer factory in their basements. One can imagine a star making 25 million a year putting aside $2 or $3 million annually to produce drugs designed specifically for him. And not necessarily performance enhancing drugs as we understand them now. Drugs that cause muscle not to break down (as opposed to build up) might extend a player's career, giving him more years to earn high pay. It would be like the Emperor of Austria hiring Mozart to write music for him; these athletes would be patrons of science.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:03 AM
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