> Designing new and more potent AS is trivial once
> you understand the chemistry (my field) and a
> burgeoning industry in human athletics (see weight
> lifters,cyclists and Olympic athletes for
> example). IMO, you can't separate new designer
> drugs for other classes of performance enhancing
> drugs from the drug class called "anabolic
> steroids". If I wanted to cheat in today's
> environment (not caring about future breeding
> issues), AS drugs would be the easiest and most
> potent way to go, given their intrinsic
> performance enhancing abilities and that they are
> not now banned. Designing a "new" one would be
> trivial when and if they do become banned.

The FDA-approved anabolic steroids have therapeutic, valid and necessary uses in the racehorse. Their use can not and should not be completely banned from the track environment.

Certainly their use within a certain time period compared to a race can and should be regulated, as should allowable detectable levels of the drug.

However, one should note that the FDA-approved anabolic steroids are deemed a Class 4 drug by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, Inc. Model Rules, Equine Veterinary Practices, Health and Medication, Chapter 11 - "This category is comprised primarily of therapeutic medications routinely used in racehorses. These may influence performance, but generally have a more limited ability to do so."

(I would urge anybody seriously interested in the problem of drugs in racing read the documents available on the RMTC web site, www.rmtcnet.com)

As comparison, snake venom (used as a nerve blocking agent) is deemed Class 2, " ...a high potential for affecting the outcome of the race. Most are not generally accepted as therapeutic agents in the racehorse."

Class 1 drugs, are drugs, " ... which have no generally accepted medical use in the racehorse and their pharmacological potential for altering the performance of a race is very high." An example of a Class 1 drug would be opiates, amphetamines.

"Designer steroids", or "super-steroids", being non-FDA approved, or being of a nature (more potent) to do far more metabolically than the FDA-approved anabolics, absolutely should be banned.

[Edit: any non-FDA approved drug currently IS banned - if we can find it]

I agree with Barry, however, in the sense that the extent to which the FDA-approved steroids are commonly used in the US, is not the biggest problem facing racing.