STEROIDS FIRM CUTS OFF ILLICIT TRADERS

Exports to the world's biggest buyer of Australian steroids have been
stopped after revelations it was supplying the international black market.

Troy Laboratories, a large manufacturer of veterinary steroids, has
announced it will no longer sell steroids to its Mexican distributor, Denkal.

Troy's steroids were identified this month being sold to American drug
dealers and teenagers from outlets in Tijuana. Nearly 30 per cent of
Australia's steroid production is sent to Mexico, the centre of the illicit
trade, with Denkal accounting for half of them.

The general manager of Troy, Mr Rene Weiss, attacked the Federal Government
for failing to act. He said it had shown a disappointing "lack of positive
action and initiative".

Despite calls for action from Troy, other pharmaceutical manufacturers, the
Justice Minister, Senator Vanstone, and veterinary associations, the
Minister for Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries, Mr Truss, is refusing to
impose immediate restrictions on steroid exports.

He is understood to have told Senator Vanstone he would agree to export
controls only if they did not impinge on legitimate exports.

But officials said the bulk of export sales were dubious and were
concentrated in countries such as Mexico, Romania, the Philippines and
Swaziland.

Senator Vanstone said she had taken the unusual step of writing to other
ministers.

She was working with them to develop controls that "don't inhibit a
legitimate industry unnecessarily".

Mr Truss refused to comment on the need for a crackdown on the industry, or
why the Government's National Registration Authority grants export quality
assurance certificates to Denkal and other dubious distributors. A
spokesman for Mr Truss claimed it was a difficult area to regulate.

The chief executive of the Australian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association, Mr Alan Evans, denied it was difficult to regulate. The
association had already told the Government that export controls on human
steroids worked well and could be applied to veterinary steroids, which
were often identical in composition, he said.

The executive director of the Veterinary Manufacturers and Distributors
Association, Mr Harvey Baker, said he was concerned about the illegal,
human use of animal steroids. Practical and effective measures to minimise
diversion from export markets were needed.

Denkal, Troy's Mexican distributor, said it was unconcerned about sales to
American teenagers and drug dealers in Tijuana. This was allowed under
Mexican regulations.

Mr Weiss said: "Because of the Mexican distributor's inability to influence
the sale and promotion of our products, we have now stopped the supply of
steroids to them." It was a voluntary step.

A second manufacturer whose steroids were being sold on the Mexican black
market, Jurox, has also vowed to halt sales that may be being diverted to
human use.