September 29, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 16, 1428

BEIJING, Sept 28: China’s cabinet has launched a probe into charges that Chinese factories are supplying illegal US laboratories with the raw material to make anabolic steroid, state media reported on Friday.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration announced on Monday in Washington it had smashed the biggest illegal steroid ring in US history following a two-year investigation.

It said 37 factories in China had supplied 26 underground steroid labs that were raided last week, resulting in more than 50 arrests. China’s State Council, or cabinet, has set up a team of investigators to probe the allegations, an official from the sports ministry told the official Xinhua news agency.

“We are actively looking into this,” Jiang Zhixue, a top official at the ministry, was quoted as saying. China, which is staging the Olympic Games in Beijing next year, was taking the allegations seriously and was prepared to shut down factories, according to Dick Pound, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.—AFP