The nandrolone epidemic, which has included positive samples from such stars as Merlene Ottey, Linford Christie and Dieter Baumann, will be at the top of the agenda when International Amateur Athletic Federation officials meet in Monte Carlo, Monaco, this weekend.

The meetings come amid increasing evidence and speculation that nutritional supplements are producing the positive nandrolone findings and that athletes might be taking the banned substance inadvertently.

David Moorcroft, chief executive of UK Athletics, met with IAAF president Lamine Diack and other officials this week to press for a moratorium on disciplinary action until the end of May, pending an independent inquiry into the surge of nandrolone cases.

Under the proposal, athletes facing hearings for nandrolone would agree not to participate in competition during the inquiry phase.

"The dialogue with the IAAF has been very positive and I have been very encouraged by the response of the president," Moorcroft said Friday. "There appears to be a willingness to find a way forward in resolving the current issues surrounding nandrolone."

Moorcroft's proposals received a positive reaction from IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai.

"If the athletes are ready to cooperate, there might be a decision to hold joint research into nandrolone with a limited deadline," he said. "I can imagine we would say we would put the current cases aside for two or three months so that we could try and find out if there is some other reason involved (for the positive tests)."

Gyulai stressed the proposals still had to be passed by the 26-member IAAF Council.

Under IAAF rules, an athlete is considered guilty of a drug offense if a banned substance is found in his system, regardless of how it got there. Athletes testing positive for steroids are subject to a two-year ban.

The highest-profile athletes who have tested positive for nandrolone are Ottey (Jamaica's former world 200-meter champion), Christie (Britain's former Olympic and world 100-meter champion), and Baumann (Germany's former Olympic 5,000-meter gold medalist).

Christie is one of four British athletes who have tested positive for the steroid in the past 12 months. The others are European 200-meter champion Doug Walker, hurdler Gary Cadogan and 400-meter runner Mark Richardson, whose positive test was announced this week.

Christie, Walker and Cadogan have all been cleared by UK Athletics, but the IAAF has refused to accept the verdicts and scheduled an arbitration hearing in April on their cases. If Moorcroft's proposal for a moratorium is accepted, the hearing would be put off.

Ottey was cleared last year by the Jamaican federation, but the IAAF was due to decide this weekend whether to submit her case to arbitration. Baumann's case is still being dealt with by the German federation.

In a significant statement that will give the athletes hope of being cleared, Gyulai said he does not consider them drug cheats.

"We believe Linford has not taken anything," he said. "We believe Merlene has not taken anything. The IAAF is aware that basically something is wrong. There are athletes who, towards the end of their careers, are suddenly testing positive and we don't understand why.

"We would like to solve this. We are not against the athletes. No one can seriously believe that it is good for the sport if Linford Christie, Merlene Ottey or Dieter Baumann is proven to be positive."

Ottey and Christie, meanwhile, have lodged serious allegations against the IAAF.

Ottey claimed that two senior IAAF officials, Gyulai and Sandro Giovannelli, tried to persuade her to keep her positive test quiet in order to avoid a public scandal on the eve of last year's World Championships at Seville, Spain.

"They both suggested that I should pull out and feign an injury or be ill," Ottey said. "No way I wanted to go with this. Only a guilty person would do that."

Christie, who is retired from competition but is coaching a group of British Olympic hopefuls in Australia, alleged that the IAAF was out to get him.

"They want to sacrifice my eight athletes in order to satisfy their jealousy and prejudice against me," he said. "It's a conspiracy."

The IAAF denied the allegations of both athletes.