HGH easier to access than one might think

In a world where athletes are always trying to be bigger and stronger than their opposition, there is an easy way to get a hold of a product which will do just that.

In the past few years, performance enhancing drugs have been tied to some of the biggest names in professional sports. The list includes Major League Baseball players Alex Rodriguez, who took anabolic steroids, and Roger Clemens, who is accused of taking human growth hormone.

The goal of becoming stronger, however, often overshadows the dangerous effects of these drugs.

“They’re associated with certain cancers and cardiovascular disease,” Paul Melia, President and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport said.

According to a full page ad in the Regina Leader-Post on January 12, 2010, Human Growth Hormone was just a simple call away.

Global News contacted Cambridge Research Laboratories, the company offering HGH. In the two minute conversation, the operator took payment, and the transaction was complete. A one month supply cost $56.

The single bottle of Soma HGH Anti-Aging Formula in an oral spray arrived just one week later. There were many ingredients inside the spray including Somatropin, the medical name for HGH.

It is not illegal to purchase HGH and Canadians are allowed to possess it without a prescription for personal use.

Marketers of the product, however, do need a license to sell it. Cambridge Research Laboratories did not have one, so the drug is not available in Canada from the company anymore.

The fact it was available for several months is troubling to those who test Canadian athletes for performance enhancing drugs.

“It’s a bit distressing to see something like that in a mainstream daily newspaper, knowing that kids are going to see it, and knowing that it’s an issue that we deal with at the high performance sport level,” Melia said.

The same ad found by Global News was also spotted by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, who purchased the product and sent it to a lab to be analyzed. While the results are not in, the Centre says HGH is a very complex molecule which must be injected to be effective, not swallowed.

“If there is any human growth hormone in it, the active nature of that hormone would be depleted through the manufacturing, packaging and retail processes involved in getting it to people,” Melia explained.

“At the end of the day it’s not unlike most supplement companies, they advertise much more than their products are able to deliver.”

Melia says the federal government is having a hard time regulating the use of HGH because the raw materials are sourced from all over the world. People are buying products manufactured in China and South America on the internet.

“We don’t have the capacity to police it and regulate it,” Melia said. “The reaction we’re getting from them is really throwing up their arms and saying, “˜We can’t do much about it.’ Education is our best hope.”