VETS SEEK BAN ON STEROIDS EXPORTS

Australian steroid exports were a national disgrace and should be
banned, the Australian Veterinary Association said yesterday. It will
demand tough action from a meeting of state and federal governments in
Perth today.

The Ministerial Council on Drugs Strategy is likely to consider
controls on steroid exports, limits on steroid production and a
taskforce to investigate steroid abuse.

Last weekend The Age revealed that Australia was a leading supplier to
the international steroid black market. Steroids destined for the
illicit trade are being certified and endorsed by federal
authorities.

Victorian Police Minister Andre Haermeyer will today call for an
investigation into the level of criminal involvement in the
trafficking of performance and image-enhancing drugs and a taskforce,
led by the Commonwealth, charged with cutting the illicit supply.

The New South Wales Government will demand the Commonwealth introduce
export controls on steroids. A spokesman for Health Minister Craig
Knowles said there was grave concern at the lack of federal action on
steroids.

Australian Veterinary Association vice-president Garth McGilvray said
the abject failure of the federal and state governments to do
something tangible was damaging Australia's reputation as a crusader
against the misuse of drugs in sport.

"Perhaps our last chance to save face will be when the Ministerial
Council on Drugs Strategy meets," he said. "The AVA urges all the
governments represented there to finally do something meaningful to
stop the flow of these drugs on to the world market."

The council is made up of all Australian health, justice and police
ministers. A separate meeting of police ministers is also likely to
consider steroid issues.

A report on performance-enhancing drugs from the National Expert
Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs, commissioned by the council last
year, will be considered at today's meeting.

The report recommends export controls on steroids and possible limits
on production. A monitoring system to establish the extent of steroid
use and harm associated with it is also advocated.

The expert committee found increasing organised crime involvement in
the trade and widespread diversion of Australian steroids on to the
local and international black market. Australia is described in the
report as the "veterinary anabolic steroid capital of the world".

A NSW Government spokesman called for the public release of the
committee's report and the implementation of its recommendations.

"There is clearly a need for a major federal crackdown on the export
of these drugs."

Some areas of the Federal Government are believed to be supporting a
campaign by the pharmaceutical industry against regulation of export
steroids over concerns it could cut their profits, despite the
evidence of black market diversion.

The world's biggest buyer of Australian steroids, Mr Alberto Salthiel,
told The Age that it "wasn't my problem" that his steroids were sold
in bulk to American teenagers, as Mexican law allowed it. His company,
Denkal, buys nearly 15 per cent of Australia's total steroid
production from Sydney-based manufacturers.

Dr McGilvray said three years of warnings to government had only
produced "bureaucratic waffle". Steroid exports should be stopped
outright, he said.