Current Event Saturday - Antler Velvet

Call me new but I saw this article the other day and was amazed that someone would even think of it. Here is the first paragraph of the article so you understand what I am talking about. 

'They harvest the so-called velvet antler (a soft coating that covers deer antlers) in New Zealand, freeze-dry it and then grind it into a powder. It then gets shipped to the United States, where it gets put into either capsules or liquid extracts that can become a simple mouth spray. You can buy it for $68 a bottle.'

Apparently professional athletes are using this as a performance enhancing drug? I guess I would have never thought about it so it amazes me.  The article goes on to state that since the velvet is a natural substance it is extremely difficult to detect in humans and can only be detected by blood testing at the exact right time.  So fascinating.

(Photo Credit: deerhuntingsuccess.com)