This could get interesting

It may be a lot like NCAA rules. In the NCAA we could take whatever supplement we wanted, but it was our responsibility to make sure what we were taking had no banned substances in it. Usually we would take the supplement to our trainer and he would say that we could trust it or not.

 

Atlanta, if they're still a factor, will get Minny and New Orleans in that stretch.

 

Let me put this article that I read out here for everybody:

NFL
Drug's alleged misuse puzzles some experts
Thursday, October 30, 2008 3:24 AM
By Eddie Pells

ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER -- A designer drug it most certainly is not.

Bumetanide, the diuretic that a handful of NFL players allegedly have been using, has been on the lengthy list of drugs banned from sports for decades.

Banned for so long, in fact, that when news of the doping cases broke, a handful of the nation's top anti-doping experts were sent scrambling for quick refreshers on exactly how the drug works. Once they were reminded, they couldn't help but wonder how a substance so easy to detect and dangerous if misused could wind up in the systems of high-paid athletes.

"I'd love to know," said Don Catlin, a renowned expert who ran America's first anti-doping lab. "But that's why the first thing I thought was, 'They take supplements all the time. Every athlete does. Maybe it's a bad batch of supplements.' "

And indeed, the same week Catlin made that guess, New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Jamar Nesbit was filing a lawsuit claiming he had taken a diet pill that had been improperly spiked with Bumetanide.

Under the NFL drug policy, players are ultimately responsible for everything that goes in their body. To help them make choices, the league contracts with a not-for-profit company, NSF, that tests supplements and approves them if they are found not to contain drugs on the league's banned list.

Often, players who get busted for violating the NFL steroids policy claim they were victims of a tainted supplement. Lori Bestervelt, the senior vice president of NSF, said there is virtually no chance a supplement could be accidentally tainted with Bumetanide.

"It could happen, but then again we could all be struck by lightning three times, too," Bestervelt said

One of the likely ways a supplement could be tainted with a drug is if the same company makes both products and, for instance, one product gets tainted by another on the factory floor. But Bestervelt said she hasn't dealt with a supplement company that also made Bumetanide.

The drug is almost exclusively prescribed to control swelling for patients with heart failure, kidney disease and people with swelling of the extremities.

Athletes have been known to use it for quick weight loss -- such as a boxer trying to make weight or a football player trying to control his weight -- or to increase urine production and, thus, mask the use of steroids.

New Orleans running back Deuce McAllister has said that he is among the players being investigated, although he stopped short of saying he had tested positive. Houston Texans long snapper Bryan Pittman was identified by his attorney as being investigated. Players from the Vikings have also been reported to be part of the investigation.

A person familiar with the case said Monday that, in all, six to eight players were under investigation by the NFL.

But most of the experts interviewed for this story also agreed that nothing about players choosing to use this drug makes much sense: The drug is so easy to detect, and so well known for what it does, it's virtually impossible to take without getting caught.

"I guess nothing surprises me these days," said Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA. "You can't draw any conclusions. But certainly, it's not surprising that some athletes will go to lengths, whatever they are, if it's easy to obtain, inexpensive and effective and they don't think they're going to get caught with it."

 

It would hurt them worse now. Add Deuce to Bush being out and both DEs to Ellis.