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McAllister, Smith among players reportedly testing positive


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McAllister, Smith among players reportedly testing positive

ESPN.com news services

Updated: October 24, 2008, 1:11 PM ET

A number of NFL players -- including Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints -- have tested positive under the NFL's steroid policy as a result of taking water pills to lose weight, according to a report from Fox 31-Denver reporter Josina Anderson.

Anderson's report cited "a rash of positive tests." The number is more than 10 and may exceed 15, two sources have told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

Attorney David Cornwell told Mortensen he has been retained by "a number of players" to represent them in the NFL appeals process, but Cornwell wouldn't say who those players were or the exact number who have retained his legal services.

Smith's listed agent, Joel Segal, was not immediately available to comment, according to Fox 31-Denver. A representative for McAllister's agent, Jim Steiner, said the agent would call that station back.

Under the NFL's steroid policy, a player's first positive test results in a four-game suspension.

According to Anderson's report, McAllister and Smith are part of a group that tested positive for a diuretic known as Bumetanide. Others tested positive for a different substance.

"Most of them tested positive for Bumetanide," said the league source, according to Fox 31-Denver. "The last few tested positive for another substance that works similarly."

A source told Fox 31-Denver that Bumetanide "can also mask the use of other drugs or steroids."

Bumetanide is a drug belonging to a group of medicines called loop diuretics or "water pills." Its uses include the treatment of fluid retention and swelling caused by medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease, Fox 31-Denver reported.

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I'll never understand the dancing banana.

Nothing on the NFL webpage yet, so nothing's official.

And in all honesty, this doesn't really screw us any more than any other comination of injuries and suspensions have so far this season, but it certainly doesn't help, either.

I'm waiting for an alien to pop out of Drew's chest, then I'll know we're in trouble.

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I might be over my head on this one, but I just don't understand the reason for a suspension for using a dieuretic. Unless they're using it to mask steroids or illicit drugs, I honestly don't see the harm in this. Maybe the guys thought they needed to drop a few pounds, which I don't see the harm in. Yeah, it helps us to have playmakers gone off of other teams, but unless they can prove that it was being used as a masking agent, I don't think they should suspend them. JMO.

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I might be over my head on this one, but I just don't understand the reason for a suspension for using a dieuretic. Unless they're using it to mask steroids or illicit drugs, I honestly don't see the harm in this. Maybe the guys thought they needed to drop a few pounds, which I don't see the harm in. Yeah, it helps us to have playmakers gone off of other teams, but unless they can prove that it was being used as a masking agent, I don't think they should suspend them. JMO.

Charles Grant has also been named according to ESPN

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I might be over my head on this one, but I just don't understand the reason for a suspension for using a dieuretic. Unless they're using it to mask steroids or illicit drugs, I honestly don't see the harm in this. Maybe the guys thought they needed to drop a few pounds, which I don't see the harm in. Yeah, it helps us to have playmakers gone off of other teams, but unless they can prove that it was being used as a masking agent, I don't think they should suspend them. JMO.

Diuretics are banned in the NFL because they can potentially mask substance abuse testing...not because they lose weight on them.

Diuretics only help your body to eliminate fluid, not fat, which is used in congestive heart failure cases, and sometimes for hypertension in conjunction with Calcium channel blockers or Beta blockers.

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