Banning Anabolic Steroids

Banning Anabolic Steroids

It has been speculated for many years that some professional athletes were using performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. The reason so many people were talking about this issue is the fact that all of the sudden there were quite a few players that were hitting many more homeruns than they had previously in their careers. The Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 22, 2004. This new law closed the legal loophole that allowed the sale in dietary supplements of steroid chemicals used as hormone precursors. The Act was unanimously approved by the United States Senate on October 6, 2004. The Senate bill (S. 2195) was sponsored by Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and had received significant interest in and support from many members of Congress due to concerns about the adverse health effects of steroids and steroid precursors. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation on June 6, 2004. The law was scheduled to go into force 90 days from signing. President Bush elevated the public's awareness on the use of steroids in sports to national political prominence by mentioning it in the 2004 State of the Union address. "The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous," he said. "And it sends the wrong messageÐ'--that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character." Significant interest has arisen in this area in the past few years since the revelation that various high profile professional athletes had taken the controversial substance for increased muscle mass and performance. Mark McGwire, the first baseman for the St Louis Cardinals back in 1998 when he broke the homerun record was allegedly using the steroid androstenedione; a form of anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are compounds which exhibit similar pharmacological effects as illegal steroid drugs. The term anabolic refers to the process of building muscle tissue. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants brought the steroid issue back into light back in 2004 along with a few other high profile athletes. It was once again a front page story. Anabolic steroids had been previously controlled by the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. The new law authorizes the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to add androstenedione, tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), and other steroid precursors to the list of anabolic steroids that had previously been classified as Schedule III controlled substances. This brings the total to 49 steroid compounds that are specifically listed in the law. "Steroid products are dangerous," Senator Hatch said in a press release.

"They hurt the public health. They are giving sports a black eye, and they endanger kids. So, it's a no-brainer that outlawing steroid look-alikes will protect the public health.