Steroids Easy Availability Targeted

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In an effort to stop "rogue" manufacturers from selling steroids under the guise of legal nutritional supplements, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency this week launched a new program called Supplement Safety Now.

These steroids are easily available to anyone, noted Travis Tygart, USADA chief executive officer. Earlier this week, he went to Amazon.com and found he could buy "P-Plex," a muscle-building product that contains a designer steroid called Madol, the Associated Press reported.

"When you can go onto a popular site like Amazon, and without ID, you can buy a product like this, it's an obvious problem, not just for athletes,'' Tygart said. "It undermines the legitimacy of the legitimate supplement industry. Until these problems are adequately addressed, even the most informed customer cannot have confidence in their choice.''

The new initiative, designed to increase awareness of the issue and develop solutions, has the support of a number of major athletic organizations, including the NFL, Major League Baseball and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Dietary supplement makers are mostly supportive of the USADA's new program. But instead of new laws, the industry wants better enforcement of existing laws.

"I do find that disturbing, if you're able to buy these kind of products off a Web site like Amazon and those kind of products are clearly illegal in a number of regards,'' Steve Mister, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, told the AP. "But that means someone's not doing their job if they're not enforcing the law."