HEADQUARTERS IN: UK - USA - AUSTRALASIA - CYPRUS - ITALY - SPAIN

Call free: 1-800-526-8157

My Account

My Basket

Article

Please note: The following article is general account of facts gathered over a period of 2 years. It is not intended to blame, defame or upset any individual or company. It is a collection of information gathered to make sense of what happened in the UK with regards to the sale of certain nutritional supplements. If you are an individual or company that is concerned about what is said in this article, don't be; it is not about you. It's official, The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) has decided to ban Nandrolone precursors. Is this fair? Is it necessary? After all if these supplements are safe, why should they be banned? And if they are dangerous enough to be banned, then surely they should not be sold. In this "insiders" article, you will learn the secrets behind what has been going on in the industry. This article will reveal secrets that even the MCA are not aware of, so grab a cup of tea and sit down to read a fascinating tale of steroids, supplements and stupidity. First read the Reuters article which hints at the imminent ban of pro-hormones: December 18, 2000 Britain to ban food supplements containing Nandrolone London (Reuters) - A British government agency is to order the withdrawal from sale of all supplements containing Nandrolone, the anabolic steroid at the centre of dozens of positive drug tests in sport. Olympic athletics champions Linford Christie of Britain and Dieter Baumann from Germany, Czech tennis player Petr Korda, winner of the Australian Open, and France's World Cup-winning footballer Christophe Dugarry are among those to have been banned after testing positive for Nandrolone. In Britain alone, 24 competitors from 10 different sports tested positive for the steroid in 1999-2000, with most of them protesting their innocence. Many said they had only used legitimate supplements bought either over the counter at health food stores or by mail order. While many such supplements do not contain banned substances, there is a rapidly growing market for products that include Nandrolone precursors - chemicals that, when consumed, are converted by the body into Nandrolone and which have the same medical effect as the steroid. Sales of such products through one manufacturer are estimated to be worth more than £5 million a year. Britain's Medicine Control Agency is now to issue notices to manufacturers in the new year ordering the products to be removed from sale, under provisions of the Medicines Act 1968. "As far as we are concerned, Nandrolone and its precursors are medicinal products and need to be licensed as such," Jane Cole, a senior official with the Medicine Control Agency, told Reuters on Monday. "Our role is to act for the safety of the public and public health. These products have significant pharmacological activity. "After receiving a complaint, we have been reviewing all products containing Nandrolone and related substances. We are talking about 20 manufacturers and around 50 different products here. "We will be writing to the manufacturers in the new year, and the chances are, since the products are to be licensed for the first time, they will become prescription-only medicines The Beginning Supplementation moved ten steps forward with the introduction of Creatine. This superb supplement showed that amongst the utter rubbish (PABA, Russian so-called Secret Formulas etc) you can really get something which works and works well. Creatine is still around and now you can get much stronger versions of it such as Explosive Creatine. The "real" search however started in the late Nineties, when some supplement companies, including LA Muscle started looking into more powerful, yet safe and legal alternatives to Creatine. Androstenedione was the first so-called "pre-cursor". LA Muscle manufactured this product, but never marketed it as it was not believed to be a good product (or good enough to have the LA Muscle name on it). LA Muscle tested several products including 19-Dione, 19-Diol, 4-Diol, 5-Diol and many more. Having found out which ones were the strongest and safest, LA Muscle proceeded to make some of the best pre-cursor formulations in the world. At the same time as LA Muscle, some other companies were experimenting with similar substances. In 1998 LA Muscle launched Norateen. This product was an immediate success and was soon hailed as the UK's strongest legal supplement. The Imitations When something is a success, it is often copied. LA Muscle warned against copy-cat products and soon enough a few companies started manufacturing inferior but similar products to Norateen. Some just used cheap-grade 19-Nor, some mixed it with other pre-cursors for more of an effect (without knowing why) and (this point is very important) others did nothing; why? Because not everyone can produce or sell a product like Norateen. You will read more below. The Positive Tests When you take pro-hormones and you create a certain environment in your body, you can produce Nandrolone inside your body. This is a known fact to any reputable manufacturer of pro-hormones. LA Muscle has known this from the beginning and this is stated on all LA Muscle labels. You would think the other manufacturers would know this about their product too! Johan Koss, former Olympic gold medalist says: "Part of the problem has been caused by inconsistent labelling on food supplements. The IOC and the US Food and Drugs Administration have been in talks to try and improve the labelling of such products so athletes can see clearly what is in them." In 1998/1999 some competitive athletes started finding out about pro-hormones and began experimenting with these. Unfortunately, some of the companies marketing pro-hormones were stupid enough (and there is no other word for it) not to tell their competitive athletes that they could test positive for Nandrolone if they used pro-hormones. LA Muscle takes great pride in its sponsorship programme. This is of prime importance and why "none" of LA Muscle's sponsored athletes have ever tested positive for drugs in their sport. No-one is blaming any company or individual for the massive media circus that was created around Nandrolone. However if all supplement companies were diligent and informed about just what they are selling, then there would not be such a big hype around what is in effect a nutritional supplement. Pro-hormones are not drugs and thought no more dangerous than half the foods you routinely consume. The argument is that they change the physiology of the body. Well, so does food, so does protein, so do cigarettes for god's sake! They give you cancer. Surely there is no greater physiological change than cancer! Why aren't cigarettes going to be banned? Why don't they become prescription only? Surely they are more of a drug? Products like Norateen come with full instructions and full facts as to how they should be taken and for how long etc. So the end result is that due to the stupidity and irresponsibility of a few, the whole industry, including you the customer, is going to be without some very strong supplements. The Jealousy and backstabbing A very well-known nutritional supplement company used to be able to sell pro-hormones. Rumour has it that they got into a spot of bother with UK Customs and were as a result prohibited to ever sell/import pro-hormones into the UK. In other words they could never sell pro-hormones in the UK again. This put them at a great disadvantage competitively. The MCA has stated that they started this whole pro-hormone investigation because of a complaint; one complaint! If there was such a complaint, it doesn't take a genius to figure out where that complaint came from! So the end result is that the MCA (probably unwittingly) have been used as a very dirty trick in what is (or was) fair competition in the bodybuilding supplements industry. No-one is saying that the MCA are bad or evil. They have a job to do like everyone else and praise to them for being the guardians. But let's think logically. The MCA stands for Medicines Control Agency. Precursors are not medicines and have never made any medicinal claims. Does the fact that they build muscle make them medicinal? Surely on the same argument Creatine, Glutamine, Protein and almost all other supplements should also be banned . Pro-hormones used as directed are safe to use. Many things change the human physiology. So why pro-hormones? And why just in the UK? All pro-hormones are freely sold in many countries, including the USA. Well, hopefully reading the above you can see why. You can see how a certain chain of "unfortunate" and "stupid" events has led to the end of some very good products. Whether Reuters are correct and products like Norateen and Anaboteen are going to be banned is a question which will only be answered in time. It is a very sad moment to see freedom of choice being taken away from society. In the 2 years that LA Muscle have been selling Norateen and Anaboteen, there have not been any reports of adverse side effects. How many people have died in that period of alcohol abuse? How many people have died as a direct results of smoking? Did you know that Nandrolone can be found in meat injected with steroids, or vitamins? In women, the presence of Nandrolone may be due to pregnancy or the use of some contraceptive pills. Rush out and buy Norateen and Anaboteen or don't. It doesn't really matter. If they get banned soon, then everyone is at a loss and any purchase will only be a temporary one. Chances are that if these products do get banned, then stock at LA Muscle will be non-existent within a short time. On a more positive note, LA Muscle still have the most powerful and cutting-edge supplements in the world today. No matter what products get banned for whatever reason, you can be assured that the LA Muscle scientists will always bring you better and stronger legal products. LA Muscle is also known for giving you new exciting products every year. The year 2001 is no exception. Watch out for some exciting new developments at LA Muscle.