<TABLE class="image right" border=0 width=150><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>P-Plex. Finaflex. Phera-Plex. If those sound like names for steroids, it's because they are. Some of them are illegal and all of them are available right now on Amazon.com.
Don and Oliver Catlin, heads of the respected anti-steroid group Anti-Doping Research, posted the results of some research today that involved buying eight to 10 different health-supplement products on Amazon and testing them for banned substances.
The Washington Post reported on the research today as well.
So far, the Catlins have tested four of the products they bought, and of those, three tested positive for illegal steroids.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Phera Plex</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>They focused on two chemicals: methasterone and madol.
Methasterone, aka methyldrostanolone, aka Superdrol, has been known to cause liver failure, and has been warned about by the FDA and added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's "Prohibited List."
But, as Catlin points out, it's not been scheduled by the Drug Enforcement Anency:
Despite inclusion on the FDA and WADA lists, the DEA does not yet have methasterone on its list of Controlled Substances as of Sept. 15. M-Drol caught the eye of the FDA in late 2009 when the product was included on a list of 65 steroid products that Bodybuilding.com was distributing. The FDA took action against some of the products and against Bodybuilding.com resulting in voluntary recall of the products from the site. Nonetheless, methasterone appears to be widely available in the marketplace today in many forms including Competitive Edge Labs M-Drol.
<TABLE class="image right" border=0 width=150><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>M-Drol</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Madol is a designer steroid made famous during the Barry Bonds BALCO scandal, and is likely part of the reason Bonds' head is now the size of a beach ball.
Madol, unlike methasterone, however, has been put on the DEA's controlled substance list, though forms of it appear frequently in the health-supplement marketplace.
Today at Amazon.com you will find Competitive Edge Labs P-Plex. P-Plex was also included in the FDA action against Bodybuilding.com, yet it remains in stock and available through two Amazon sellers as of Jan. 17. The marketing headline for P-Plex on Amazon.com reads "P-Plex-Anabolic Muscle Building Formula 10mg, 90ct (Compare to Phera-Plex)." We purchased the product on Jan. 6 through Amazon.com in an order fulfilled by Amazon Seller MMMPower, and have identified Madol in the product.
Nowhere on any of the Amazon anabolic pages is any warning about the products' side effects.
In a letter sent to Amazon and other online distributors of health supplements in December, the FDA claimed it had found an "alarming variety" of undeclared and often illegal substances being sold in the U.S.
Though the letter doesn't name Amazon, it references Internet-based sales operations specifically.
So get your roids now, juiceheads. Stories like these usually aren't out long before shit hits the fan and everyone's left with only their charred livers and ***** tits.