unless they took it on purpose.
I’d say the chances they took it on purpose is much higher than unknowingly taking a contaminated supplement. Recently there have been, to my knowledge, 4 women busted for Ostarine (Gerdes, Barnett, Paulsen, Marangon) and ALL of them claimed contamination. It’s like claiming contaminated supplements is just a way to potentially get yourself a reduced sentence, if these women did not claim contamination they would have definitely received a 4 year ban.
Also, I’m not sure how the supplement testing works but are they only testing factory sealed products provided by a 3rd party or are they testing opened and unopened canisters/packages provided by the athletes? I don’t think it would be too difficult to provide a self contaminated supplement that appears to be factory sealed. If these women all took the same contaminated supplement then I’d be more likely to believe their stories but I don’t think any of them took the same thing which makes it hard to believe that Ostarine is making its way into all these different products.
But would the athletes know the product was laced with Ostraine before taking it? Only if they show up on the Supplement411 would they know. Sure Neurolytes are now on the list but I don’t think they were on the list before a few days ago.
To answer a few questions:
1.) Neurolytes were added to the Supplement411 list right around the same time that the announcements were made by WTC.
2.) In Barnett’s case, she was able to show in a bottle from the same lot that they, too, were contaminated with Ostarine. Hence why they’re now on there. I obviously can’t speak to the testing protocol as to how the lab wound up with bottles from the same lot. But I would anticipate that it is more controlled than the athlete supplying them. In Gerdes’ case, she had preliminary findings of Ostarine in her supplement; however, they were not able to replicate the finding, thus the 2 year vs 6 mos/4 yr bans.
3.) With regard to manufacturing - for those questioning “how does this happen?” - there are a scant few brands that actually manufacture their own supplements (including salt) on their own equipment. Otherwise, you’re at the risk of whatever is residue in the equipment from the line that was produced/bottled before yours. There’s also little/no regulation…which isn’t likely to change given the current federal administration.
4.) Why don’t these athletes out the company? Because commercial libel/slander is a hell of a charge, and penalties of lost revenues, etc. gets difficult. Also, without knowing why X brand was contaminated…that gets messy. Considering the bank accounts of most pro triathletes, and the expense of defending a lawsuit…the cost-benefit analysis is simply not worth it.