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January 21, 2004
The Politics and Science of 'Roids
Posted by Nick
President Bush came down pret-ty hard on the use of anabolic steroids in professional sports in the State of the Union Address last night. It was an odd area for him to tackle -- no natural political constitutency I can think of demanding steroids regulation. But since the Prez is known to be a sports fan, maybe banning roids just his idea of, well, a good idea (or maybe he thought that must explain howard Dean's YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!! after Iowa -- a 'roid rage).
Either way, performance enhancing drugs, while not new to sports, are going to be hard to get rid of. This SciAm story helps explain why:
"... it is fairly easy for organic chemists to design novel anabolic steroids that standard drug tests would not detect. "
Comments (1)
| Category: Drugs/Performance Enhancers | Politics
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Nick Schulz is the Editor of Tech Central Station and has worked in media circles and the ideas industry as a writer, editor, television producer and policy analyst. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The National Post of Canada, The Baltimore Sun, Investor's Business Daily, The Washington Times, National Review, Reason, Policy Review, and several other publications. He is also, it should be said, a rabid sports fan whose fandom is inversely proportional to his overall athletic ability.
1. Art De Vany on February 4, 2004 08:02 PM writes...
I would not take steroids myself but, as far as I know, there are no documented cases of diabetes (an offshoot of "gainer" protein drinks and human growth hormone), or roid rage in professional sports (and this is a questionable hypothesis with scant evidence as well).
The point is this: if steroids are to be banned there must be sound evidence of their harm in sports. Where is it, but for those poor East German and Soviet females who were forced to use them? Can anyone name a modern professional baseball, track, or football athlete who exhibits serious side effects of steroid use? There are stories about college and high school athletes whose careers (?) suffered from excessive steroid use, but no systematic evidence. Body builders are not a good sample for athletes for many reasons I need not go into. Given the wear and tear of a professional season it is not unlikely that athletes will seek whatever supplements or hormones they can to keep up the pace. I don't blame them and to illegalize a substance that may help them meet the extreme demands of competitive sports over a long season is creating a class of criminals that, at best, may be harming themselves, but maybe not.
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