Peptides did no harm to Jon Mannah, says Stephen Dank THE man at the centre of the ASADA investigation into peptide use in the NRL says he was aware of Jon Mannah's fight with Hodgkin's lymphoma and consulted an oncologist before offering any supplements to the former Cronulla prop. Stephen Dank, the sports scientist whose work at Cronulla and Essendon is at the heart of the investigation, also claimed he was horrified at suggestions the use of peptides could have accelerated or contributed to Mannah's death earlier this year. Tim Mannah also went on the front foot yesterday, saying his brother would never have knowingly consented to taking a banned substance, while both the Cancer Council and one of the country's leading endocrinologists said they could find no evidence of any link between human growth hormone-promoting peptides and the relapse or onset of lymphoma. Dank, who has outlined plans to pursue a $2 million defamation suit as a result of stories linking him with Mannah's death, said he was assured any peptides given to the player were safe. Mannah played 12 games for Cronulla in 2011, including the opening six games of the season, the period of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation. It is understood the Sharks' independent report into the period in question, compiled by former ASADA deputy chairwoman Tricia Kavanagh, found players in the first-grade squad were given injections the day before the games -- the report suggests the players were administered with CJC-1295 and GHRP-6. Eventually, the injections ended and players were given lozenges or creams. Mannah relapsed at the end of 2011 and died in January. "I feel terribly sorry for what the Mannah family is going through right now," Dank said in a statement to the Nine Network. I am outraged at the suggestion I accelerated or contributed to his death. Like all players, Jon was given full information about what he was doing and it was his decision whether to take part. Tim Mannah and the Parramatta club also condemned the reports and threw their support behind Trent Elkin, the trainer who was at Cronulla when Dank was there but is now part of the Eels set-up. My brother Johnny was a wonderful man and never ever would have knowingly consented to taking a banned substance. In fact, he was very careful about everything he did that may affect his health," Tim Mannah said. We know Trent does not condone the use of illegal substances and would have never knowingly done anything that would cause one of his players, or Jon for that matter, harm. The Eels added: "In all parts of life there are boundaries, lines in the sand that everyone understands. To put the Mannah family through what they have in the last 24 hours is an absolute disgrace. We as a playing group will be rallying around Timmy, his family and Trent Elkin. They are our teammates, our family. While it was suggested there is an identifiable causal link between CJC-1295 and GHRP-6 and the acceleration of Hodgkin's lymphoma, both the Cancer Council and leading endocrinologist Rob Baxter, director of the Kolling Institute, suggested otherwise. "In terms of Hodgkin's lymphoma, there just isn't any evidence that growth hormones make it worse," Baxter said.