The World Anti-Doping Agency said it is ''totally outrageous'' that a Russian scientist reportedly offered to sell a seemingly potent and undetectable new muscle-building drug to undercover journalists, according to the AP. German broadcaster WDR said that "a scientist at the renowned Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow offered to sell the substance, known as full size MGF, to undercover reporters" (AP, 2/5). The BBC's Richard Conway wrote the drug "is said to develop muscles at twice the natural rate." The reporter for German broadcaster WDR, which aired a program on the issue this week, was told it would cost €100,000 ($135,000) to "prepare" an athlete for the Winter Olympics (BBC, 2/6). In London, Owen Gibson wrote WADA "has warned that around a quarter of all the pharmaceuticals in the world are sold on the black market, in the wake of claims about the availability of an undetectable new muscle growth drug." WADA Dir General David Howman said it was "outrageous but not surprising." Howman: "We are aware the black market exists for products in the R&D process for medical companies and are being stolen." WADA "has worked with pharmaceutical giants for some years in order to gain advance knowledge of drugs in development and to warn them when drugs in testing become available on the black market" (GUARDIAN, 2/5).
