U.S. exposes illicit China steroid sales

By Duff Wilson and Michael S. Schmidt | International Herald Tribune
25 September 2007

The federal authorities in the United States have announced the exposure of a sprawling underground distribution network for steroids, human growth hormone and other illicit bodybuilding drugs supplied by 37 companies in China.

The operation, disclosed on Monday, revealed a much wider, more diffuse commerce in performance-enhancing drugs than previously known, with a latticework of bathroom and basement manufacturers and distributors. That contrasted with the more centralized drug network from past years that tapped into established pharmaceutical pipelines.

A network of Internet-based chemical wholesalers, anonymous e-mail services and password-protected chat rooms fueled the trade, federal and state officials said. "There is no kingpin here," said Steve Robertson, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington. "We're going after individual distribution cells. There's no godfather of steroids."

The drug agency estimates that 99 percent of the illegal steroids originate with chemicals from China.

Most of the 124 who were arrested in the operation - including 50 over the past week - were charged with distributing chemicals bought in bulk from China, which as host of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing has been under pressure to deliver a drug-free Games.

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