i am in the lab business, tested steroids, labs adhere to ISO 17025
steroid testing is a gravy business. first. at $1250 per sample. you can run 100 samples/day with a staff of 6, more than very easily. that is 100k/day.
second, drug labs like to be god's upon themselves, and work to stamp out competition, through regulation and permitting, i.e. you won't be able to join the club without cash and connections.
as part of buyer seller transactions, both parties get independent testing as part of the process.
in the case of ISO 17025 accredited labs, they have to use standard reference materials, and normally complete round robing testing, where crosschecking with a second lab in 'BIG TRANSACTION" is the normal protocol,
in the case of synthetics vs natural molecules, can have different isomers, like testosterone,
the MS detector detects the molecule fragments, combined with a mass filter and targeted sample prep yields a near 100% identification probability. which makes determination of synthetic vs natural possible, as the isomers are different slightly in structure but act similarly in the receptor, to produce the key effect, in the biochemical chain, i.e. anabolic. estrogenic, etc.
with that said, it is basic incompetence not to look closely at the isomers, it's on display on the chromatogram on the computer display, click, and there are algorithms built in to automate identification. these processes are very well established,
people generally in the sport and even sports medicine have a very poor understanding,
they riffel out the buzz words, LCMSanabolictestEPO to one another, great to impress one another and talk to the press, but generally speaking is a cluster**f
regarding natural vs synthetic, chemical reactions produce the different isomers, and many molecules can be extracted from natural sources or can be produced by biotransformation using microorganisms, yeast, fungus, bacteria, where the product is identical to natural.
so the next step in doping is to biotransform, use peptides, precursors to elevate what you want to elevate.
back in the day they figured out testes and testosterone were connected, hence eating bull testicles, and this extends to herbals, extracts in an effort to supplement
expecially in endurance sports, the activity depletes and low testerone results, a great host of issues, where blood work tells the tale.
so it is obvious that the athlete needs to supplement, in the case of a salazar, he hit the wall, and looked for solutions, which led to the grey area, and over perhaps probably.
people like mary slaney, carl lewis, i'm strongly led to believe were clean for the majority of their carear, i know coaches directly involved, and i see the exact scenario playing out with Zane, so he's in "good company"
lewis with his natural 10.0 which may be the real world record, could not beat the admitted roided ben johnson.
and with that said, ben tested for the actual steroid and not the metabolite, which is impossible, so his sample was tampered with. this is open and shut.
ben confessed as did coach charley and they were nailed to the wall.
the rest of the canadian team started to come out as having no choice, everybody knew, but shut up after they found out that ben and charlie would be hammered and the rest buried.
