The problem when it comes to steroid testing is that the testers need to know what they are looking for. Tests can not be carried out on a urine sample to test for ‘steroids’ in general, each steroid has an individual impact on urine results, and these impacts need to be understood by the tester to ever discover the use of performance enhancing drugs.
This was the case with the injectable steroid Genabol. Originally, it was not a commercial steroid when the law controlling anabolic steroids was written. This means that the compound used in Genabol was not known as an anabolic steroid in the eyes of the law and as such, not looked for in regular doping tests.
This lack of knowledge of the substance by the law gave a private chemist, Patrick Arnold, the chance to release this steroid with the specific intention of beating drug tests.
This was the first case of the new-age “designer steroids”, which are in principle, exactly the same as steroids, with the same health risks and benefits to the athlete as traditional anabolic steroids, yet released without the legality which surrounds steroids.
Steroids for sale like this are a highly valued commodity amongst competitive athletes. Being able to achieve steroid like results, without the risk of being caught in drugs tests.
Most of the designer steroid that hit the market in the early part of 2000 have since been discontinued and the steroid added to the list of controlled anabolic steroids. Signalling the authorities intent to rid sport od doping cheats.