ABOUT DESIGNER STEROIDS

Designer steroids are chemical compounds that are similar to known steroids, but with slight modifications. That means they have the same muscle-building properties as the actual drugs, which are available only by prescription, as well as the same potential for liver damage.

Many are former investigational drugs that were revived by chemists in the last decade to help elite athletes beat drug tests. The substances involved in the BALCO scandal that ensnared home run king Barry Bonds, track and field star Marion Jones and other highprofile athletes were designer steroids.

As more of the substances have become known, they have been banned by sports organizations and anti-doping agencies. Some have been classified as Schedule III controlled substances by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

But that hasn’t stopped manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements from using them in their body-building products, often identifying the ingredients right on the labels.

Typically, the raw materials are imported from China, processed into capsules in the U.S. and sold online and in retail stores as “prohormones.”

In December 2014, President Barack Obama signed the Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act. It designated 25 ingredients already known to federal regulators as controlled substances and made it easier for other compounds to be similarly classified in the future.