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http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/stories/2002-07-09-cover-steroids-kids.htm
Kids, steroids don't mix
By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
Teenagers, looking up to those elite athletes whose muscles ripple with steroid-enhanced power, are picking up some dangerous training tips, health experts warn. Several national youth surveys estimate steroid use by high school boys at 4-6%, up to 12% in one study, and about 2% for girls. And the numbers are rising. "I'd say 500,000 to 600,000 kids in the U.S. have used these drugs at some time," says researcher Charles Yesalis, professor of exercise and sport science at Penn State. "Right now steroid use is at an all-time high."
One reason, experts say, is the example set by professional and elite athletes. After Mark McGwire set a record for single-season homers in 1998 and admitted using the legal supplement androstenedione, a steroid substitute, sales jumped 1,000% and steroid use by teens of high school age crept upward. Among high school seniors, disapproval of steroids dropped from 91% in 1997 to 86% in 2001 while the belief that steroids pose a great risk fell from 67% in 1997 to 59% in 2001, according to the 2001 Monitoring the Future Survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Signs of steroid use in kids
Some of the signs of steroid use can be mistaken for normal teenage development, so it might be difficult for parents, coaches and physicians to detect.
Nicholas DiNubile, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, says parents can look for rapid changes such as:
Improbable gains in lean body mass, muscle bulk and definition
Increased aggressiveness or emotional ups and downs
Advanced acne on chest and back
Early male-pattern baldness
Breast enlargement in boys
Parents should be aware that when young people try to go off steroid use, there can be a sudden loss of weight. That can lead to depression in young people whose body image is skewed, DiNubile says. "They think they've shrunk like air let out of a balloon."
Instead of kids resorting to steroids or other performance-enhancing substances, he says, parents can help them work on sports skill training and capitalize on their natural abilities. "Try to make your great athlete that way," DiNubile says. "For many centuries, that's how great athletes were built."
"Athletes are cultural icons, and some have great influence," says orthopedic surgeon Nicholas DiNubile, team doctor for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. "They can use it in a positive or negative way, but it's not neutral. They're more than athletes."
The topic became front-page news again this year when retired MVPs Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti admitted using steroids. A poll of 556 big-leaguers conducted by USA TODAY in June found 89% believe there is some steroid use in the game, 10% believe more than half of their peers are users and 44% feel pressure to use steroids to compete.
A separate USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll of baseball fans found 78% believe steroids contribute to the recent glut of offensive records. The single-season homer record, which stood for 37 years, has been surpassed six times in the past four seasons. A record 62 homers were hit last Tuesday in one night of games.
"I'll never hear that kind of number without wondering" whether performance-enhancing drugs made it possible, DiNubile says.
In USA TODAY's poll of players, 79% support independent steroids testing. Others have less concern.
"If guys are doing it, they're grown men," Anaheim outfielder Garret Anderson says. "Everybody is entitled to make their own decisions."
Colorado outfielder Larry Walker agrees: "I don't worry about what guys are doing. We've got better things to worry about in this game than that. This isn't the Olympics. If guys want to use andro and creatine and all that stuff, it's all right."
But noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, who treats pro and amateur athletes in Birmingham, Ala., believes young players model themselves after their grown-up sports heroes. "Whatever is being done at the professional level is being handed down rapidly to the collegiate level, the high school level and the pre-high school level."
Some players agree. Chicago White Sox shortstop Royce Clayton favors testing: "It sends a message that steroids are a substance you don't want to mess around with and that there is no place for them in the game. ... We are role models, and that's the most important thing a player has to understand. As soon as we test and the game is clean, the better it will be for everybody."
As kids use steroids, adults look other way
While some doctors and researchers believe moderate steroid use in adults can have positive results with few side effects, almost all doctors agree steroids are dangerous for children and teens. But steroid use continues to rise among youngsters.
What MLB players are saying
"To be honest, I have never seen a steroid. I wouldn't know what they look like. If someone asked me what they should do, I would tell them not to take them. They are dangerous. My own son asked me about them. They are not a good shortcut." — Orioles manager Mike Hargrove
"Look around this clubhouse. There are some bad bodies around here. Half these guys look like they need to be on something." — Cubs second baseman Delino De-Shields
"It goes back to the money in the game. A career minor leaguer, he might see this as a way to pull it off and get to the major leagues and take care of his family." — Cubs first baseman Fred McGriff
"I'd like to think the records are legitimate. If you achieve a record, you should be able to say that you did it honestly. Steroids are cheating." — Indians manager Charlie Manuel
"Let's talk baseball." — Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa when asked about steroids
"I would like to see testing in baseball. I'm definitely in favor of it. I mean, you see how much guys are using it. You see guys with all of these sores on their bodies. Even pitchers are doing it now. Some guys are obvious. Some aren't. But let's test. Unless you've got something to hide, you won't mind testing, right?" — Braves outfielder Gary Sheffield
"If it's an illegal substance, I think you should test for it, but you still have to negotiate it. I think it's a way (owners) think they can keep salaries down. If you've got '85%' of players on the stuff, if those players can't take it anymore and their numbers go down, who's going to benefit? The owners." — Twins infielder Denny Hocking
"I gained probably 20 pounds in the offseason in 1995-96, but I was still 27 years old. I had that room to grow. Now I work just as hard, but I can't gain anymore. The guys who are already at their peak and then come back 25-30 pounds heavier, you're like, 'Come on, dude, how did you do that?' " — Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell
"I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a 19-year-old and think, 'If everyone else is doing it and if I want to be a major leaguer, I might have to do it.' If high school kids start doing it, then they're going to think they need to stay on it in college and they're going to be on it for a long time. You put something in your body, you have to be educated. Hopefully these kids are smart enough to realize they're putting poison in their bodies and giving themselves a chance to get real sick." — Orioles catcher Brook Fordyce
"If they worry about guys doing steroids, how about the pitchers? You think pitchers don't go out there with pine tar all over their body and cap and glove. If we want to get serious about everything, let's strip-search the pitcher on the mound and see all the stuff he's got. A lot of things are against the law that people do, and I'm not just talking about baseball." — Rockies outfielder Larry Walker
"If you want the fans to respect what's left of the game's pureness, you're going to have to start testing." — Hall of Famer Rod Carew
"If you're going to point fingers, point the fingers at the right people and not the rest of us. Two players came out about an issue and now it's trickling down to everybody else, and that part is just not right. And I always seem to be the guy right at the top of the list." — Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, who set the single-season home run record of 73 last season
Yesalis, author of Performance Enhancing Substances in Sport and Exercise, cites a study published in 2000 that found prevalent use among eighth-graders similar to that of high school seniors. "We've shown use down to seventh-grade level," he says. "It's scary for anybody to use these drugs, but in particular women and children." A 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance study by the Centers for Disease Control and the 2001 Monitoring the Future survey both show steady growth in steroid use by eighth- to 12th-graders.
It is not only young athletes who use them, says Yesalis. Because steroids can help turn a 100-pound weakling into a buff beach stud, they "make a young person feel more popular, more sexually attractive," he says. But there is a price to pay. Anabolic steroids are synthetic drugs related to male hormones. They're used medically to help AIDS patients improve strength and appetite and to treat men for delayed puberty, impotence and hypogonadism, a condition in which the testes are underactive.
For young athletes, steroids increase muscle mass and strength and shorten the time for muscles to recover from a workout. They also have the psychological effect of boosting assertiveness, giving a "pumped-up mental attitude," DiNubile says.
The downside is that they can cause hair loss, severe acne, infertility, masculinization of women (deepening of voice, growth of body hair, smaller breasts) and feminization of men (shrunken testicles, enlarged breasts). Steroids also are thought to increase the risk of stroke, heart disease and liver cancer.
The drugs also can permanently stunt growth. "Seniors in high school have, on average, grown to 95% of their adult height," Yesalis says, "but in seventh grade, they could permanently shut down their growth plates. So if God had intended them to be 6-2, they could end up a muscular 5-4."
To counteract the negative effects, steroid users combine drugs, a practice that could increase risks for young people, says DiNubile, a spokesman for the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. "The ones who are good at this take diuretics to get rid of fluid retention, they take anti-estrogens, they become very sophisticated."
Top athletes have access to steroids through physicians, but "kids buy black-market stuff whose purity is questionable," Yesalis says. "They're more prone to cowboy chemistry," getting information from friends or the Internet, increasing the risk of misuse.
Yet the demand continues unabated, driven by the desire to win and for the money that brings.
"I see the kids in the office," DiNubile says. "The coaches look the other way; their parents want them getting that scholarship. A lot of people look away when it comes to steroids."
In a competitive society where "moral standards are being swept under the rug," Yesalis says, the temptation is to reach the goal by any means.
"If you really believe in winning at all costs, and that's how you raise your kids, drug use is not illogical," he says. "I get about one call a year from one or two idiot parents who want my blessing to their use of growth hormone or anabolic steroids for a kid who is otherwise normal, but they want Johnny or Mary to be a superstar. The conversations are very short, and I'm not very polite.
"Use of these drugs by kids in sports is wrong. No discussion."
Severity and frequency of injuries rise
Unfortunately, DiNubile says, young people often don't believe that, in part because the medical community erred in the 1970s and '80s by claiming steroids did not increase strength or muscle mass.
"But the athletes knew, they realized they were getting gains and started experimenting with different doses," he says. "So when we came out and said yes, it works but it's not safe, they didn't believe us." Adding to that is the universal belief of teenagers in their indestructibility, he says. "They really don't believe these things can harm them."
But they can. Andrews says he has noticed an alarming increase in the instance and severity of ligament and tendon injuries. While he can't prove steroid use is a factor, he says these kinds of injuries can result from stress on tendons caused by overdeveloped muscles. "In baseball players, we see an increase in the incidence of rotator cuff injuries, a large increase in (injuries to elbow ligaments) related to the stress of throwing," he says. The "real distressing aspect," he says, "is we're seeing these career-threatening injuries in the shoulders and elbows of baseball players in younger and younger age groups."
A USA TODAY database study showed a 32% increase in stints on the major league disabled list in the past 10 years. Injuries to large joints increased 58%, while all other injuries increased only 5%. The number of injuries identified as tendon or ligament injuries in baseball jumped 224% between 1992 and 2001.
Andrews has completed a study, not yet published, that looks at sports injuries in athletes under 18 and found elbow ligament injuries and shoulder injuries in young athletes have increased dramatically. He doesn't know why. "We don't have the statistics to tell us what's going on, but we're all worried," he says.
That's a concern, because prolonged use of steroids is likely to increase the chance of side effects, including those that might be life-threatening, he says. "I don't want to say it's causing these things all over the place ... but we know there are side effects and they're being minimized by athletes. They think they're invincible. But until we test for it and know (who is using the drugs), we'll be sitting here guessing.
"The problem is the almighty dollar," Andrews says. "Parents are doing whatever they can to make professional athletes out of their children. Some start planning at 2 years of age. There's a lot of enticement to do what is necessary to enhance performance."
Cincinnati outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. sees the same problem at the major league level. "All you can do is live your life the right way and not worry about the other guys. You see things and you hear things, but what can you do? Guys know the risks, but they also know there's big money out there."
Messages from pros carry weight
The lure of big muscles, an athletic scholarship or a pro career is irresistible to many youngsters, DiNubile says. "We need real vigilance here and for more parents and coaches to be aware."
Doctors can issue warnings, but they might not have much impact, he says. Kids might need to hear it from more influential sources.
"It would be tremendously helpful," DiNubile says, "if some sports heroes would be more visible on this issue, be willing to stand up, speak to our kids and educate them. Because kids listen to their heroes."
But Los Angeles first baseman Eric Karros says he's disturbed by the suggestion that steroid use by major leaguers will create a cause-and-effect spike in use by younger athletes. "If people make decisions based on something they've read or what a sports figure says, if that's solely how they make decisions, then there's obviously a lack of parenting," he says.
But others in baseball see a responsibility.
"Our sport is a microcosm of society," Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker says. "We know that substance abuse, including steroids, is certainly a problem throughout our society. To have our head in the sand and convince ourselves that it's not a problem is probably a bit naive and irresponsible. There's growing evidence steroids are dangerous and can even be life-threatening. It certainly behooves all of us to come up with a meaningful education and control policy."
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/stories/2002-07-09-cover-steroids-kids.htm
Kids, steroids don't mix
By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
Teenagers, looking up to those elite athletes whose muscles ripple with steroid-enhanced power, are picking up some dangerous training tips, health experts warn. Several national youth surveys estimate steroid use by high school boys at 4-6%, up to 12% in one study, and about 2% for girls. And the numbers are rising. "I'd say 500,000 to 600,000 kids in the U.S. have used these drugs at some time," says researcher Charles Yesalis, professor of exercise and sport science at Penn State. "Right now steroid use is at an all-time high."
One reason, experts say, is the example set by professional and elite athletes. After Mark McGwire set a record for single-season homers in 1998 and admitted using the legal supplement androstenedione, a steroid substitute, sales jumped 1,000% and steroid use by teens of high school age crept upward. Among high school seniors, disapproval of steroids dropped from 91% in 1997 to 86% in 2001 while the belief that steroids pose a great risk fell from 67% in 1997 to 59% in 2001, according to the 2001 Monitoring the Future Survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Signs of steroid use in kids
Some of the signs of steroid use can be mistaken for normal teenage development, so it might be difficult for parents, coaches and physicians to detect.
Nicholas DiNubile, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, says parents can look for rapid changes such as:
Improbable gains in lean body mass, muscle bulk and definition
Increased aggressiveness or emotional ups and downs
Advanced acne on chest and back
Early male-pattern baldness
Breast enlargement in boys
Parents should be aware that when young people try to go off steroid use, there can be a sudden loss of weight. That can lead to depression in young people whose body image is skewed, DiNubile says. "They think they've shrunk like air let out of a balloon."
Instead of kids resorting to steroids or other performance-enhancing substances, he says, parents can help them work on sports skill training and capitalize on their natural abilities. "Try to make your great athlete that way," DiNubile says. "For many centuries, that's how great athletes were built."
"Athletes are cultural icons, and some have great influence," says orthopedic surgeon Nicholas DiNubile, team doctor for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. "They can use it in a positive or negative way, but it's not neutral. They're more than athletes."
The topic became front-page news again this year when retired MVPs Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti admitted using steroids. A poll of 556 big-leaguers conducted by USA TODAY in June found 89% believe there is some steroid use in the game, 10% believe more than half of their peers are users and 44% feel pressure to use steroids to compete.
A separate USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll of baseball fans found 78% believe steroids contribute to the recent glut of offensive records. The single-season homer record, which stood for 37 years, has been surpassed six times in the past four seasons. A record 62 homers were hit last Tuesday in one night of games.
"I'll never hear that kind of number without wondering" whether performance-enhancing drugs made it possible, DiNubile says.
In USA TODAY's poll of players, 79% support independent steroids testing. Others have less concern.
"If guys are doing it, they're grown men," Anaheim outfielder Garret Anderson says. "Everybody is entitled to make their own decisions."
Colorado outfielder Larry Walker agrees: "I don't worry about what guys are doing. We've got better things to worry about in this game than that. This isn't the Olympics. If guys want to use andro and creatine and all that stuff, it's all right."
But noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, who treats pro and amateur athletes in Birmingham, Ala., believes young players model themselves after their grown-up sports heroes. "Whatever is being done at the professional level is being handed down rapidly to the collegiate level, the high school level and the pre-high school level."
Some players agree. Chicago White Sox shortstop Royce Clayton favors testing: "It sends a message that steroids are a substance you don't want to mess around with and that there is no place for them in the game. ... We are role models, and that's the most important thing a player has to understand. As soon as we test and the game is clean, the better it will be for everybody."
As kids use steroids, adults look other way
While some doctors and researchers believe moderate steroid use in adults can have positive results with few side effects, almost all doctors agree steroids are dangerous for children and teens. But steroid use continues to rise among youngsters.
What MLB players are saying
"To be honest, I have never seen a steroid. I wouldn't know what they look like. If someone asked me what they should do, I would tell them not to take them. They are dangerous. My own son asked me about them. They are not a good shortcut." — Orioles manager Mike Hargrove
"Look around this clubhouse. There are some bad bodies around here. Half these guys look like they need to be on something." — Cubs second baseman Delino De-Shields
"It goes back to the money in the game. A career minor leaguer, he might see this as a way to pull it off and get to the major leagues and take care of his family." — Cubs first baseman Fred McGriff
"I'd like to think the records are legitimate. If you achieve a record, you should be able to say that you did it honestly. Steroids are cheating." — Indians manager Charlie Manuel
"Let's talk baseball." — Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa when asked about steroids
"I would like to see testing in baseball. I'm definitely in favor of it. I mean, you see how much guys are using it. You see guys with all of these sores on their bodies. Even pitchers are doing it now. Some guys are obvious. Some aren't. But let's test. Unless you've got something to hide, you won't mind testing, right?" — Braves outfielder Gary Sheffield
"If it's an illegal substance, I think you should test for it, but you still have to negotiate it. I think it's a way (owners) think they can keep salaries down. If you've got '85%' of players on the stuff, if those players can't take it anymore and their numbers go down, who's going to benefit? The owners." — Twins infielder Denny Hocking
"I gained probably 20 pounds in the offseason in 1995-96, but I was still 27 years old. I had that room to grow. Now I work just as hard, but I can't gain anymore. The guys who are already at their peak and then come back 25-30 pounds heavier, you're like, 'Come on, dude, how did you do that?' " — Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell
"I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a 19-year-old and think, 'If everyone else is doing it and if I want to be a major leaguer, I might have to do it.' If high school kids start doing it, then they're going to think they need to stay on it in college and they're going to be on it for a long time. You put something in your body, you have to be educated. Hopefully these kids are smart enough to realize they're putting poison in their bodies and giving themselves a chance to get real sick." — Orioles catcher Brook Fordyce
"If they worry about guys doing steroids, how about the pitchers? You think pitchers don't go out there with pine tar all over their body and cap and glove. If we want to get serious about everything, let's strip-search the pitcher on the mound and see all the stuff he's got. A lot of things are against the law that people do, and I'm not just talking about baseball." — Rockies outfielder Larry Walker
"If you want the fans to respect what's left of the game's pureness, you're going to have to start testing." — Hall of Famer Rod Carew
"If you're going to point fingers, point the fingers at the right people and not the rest of us. Two players came out about an issue and now it's trickling down to everybody else, and that part is just not right. And I always seem to be the guy right at the top of the list." — Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, who set the single-season home run record of 73 last season
Yesalis, author of Performance Enhancing Substances in Sport and Exercise, cites a study published in 2000 that found prevalent use among eighth-graders similar to that of high school seniors. "We've shown use down to seventh-grade level," he says. "It's scary for anybody to use these drugs, but in particular women and children." A 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance study by the Centers for Disease Control and the 2001 Monitoring the Future survey both show steady growth in steroid use by eighth- to 12th-graders.
It is not only young athletes who use them, says Yesalis. Because steroids can help turn a 100-pound weakling into a buff beach stud, they "make a young person feel more popular, more sexually attractive," he says. But there is a price to pay. Anabolic steroids are synthetic drugs related to male hormones. They're used medically to help AIDS patients improve strength and appetite and to treat men for delayed puberty, impotence and hypogonadism, a condition in which the testes are underactive.
For young athletes, steroids increase muscle mass and strength and shorten the time for muscles to recover from a workout. They also have the psychological effect of boosting assertiveness, giving a "pumped-up mental attitude," DiNubile says.
The downside is that they can cause hair loss, severe acne, infertility, masculinization of women (deepening of voice, growth of body hair, smaller breasts) and feminization of men (shrunken testicles, enlarged breasts). Steroids also are thought to increase the risk of stroke, heart disease and liver cancer.
The drugs also can permanently stunt growth. "Seniors in high school have, on average, grown to 95% of their adult height," Yesalis says, "but in seventh grade, they could permanently shut down their growth plates. So if God had intended them to be 6-2, they could end up a muscular 5-4."
To counteract the negative effects, steroid users combine drugs, a practice that could increase risks for young people, says DiNubile, a spokesman for the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. "The ones who are good at this take diuretics to get rid of fluid retention, they take anti-estrogens, they become very sophisticated."
Top athletes have access to steroids through physicians, but "kids buy black-market stuff whose purity is questionable," Yesalis says. "They're more prone to cowboy chemistry," getting information from friends or the Internet, increasing the risk of misuse.
Yet the demand continues unabated, driven by the desire to win and for the money that brings.
"I see the kids in the office," DiNubile says. "The coaches look the other way; their parents want them getting that scholarship. A lot of people look away when it comes to steroids."
In a competitive society where "moral standards are being swept under the rug," Yesalis says, the temptation is to reach the goal by any means.
"If you really believe in winning at all costs, and that's how you raise your kids, drug use is not illogical," he says. "I get about one call a year from one or two idiot parents who want my blessing to their use of growth hormone or anabolic steroids for a kid who is otherwise normal, but they want Johnny or Mary to be a superstar. The conversations are very short, and I'm not very polite.
"Use of these drugs by kids in sports is wrong. No discussion."
Severity and frequency of injuries rise
Unfortunately, DiNubile says, young people often don't believe that, in part because the medical community erred in the 1970s and '80s by claiming steroids did not increase strength or muscle mass.
"But the athletes knew, they realized they were getting gains and started experimenting with different doses," he says. "So when we came out and said yes, it works but it's not safe, they didn't believe us." Adding to that is the universal belief of teenagers in their indestructibility, he says. "They really don't believe these things can harm them."
But they can. Andrews says he has noticed an alarming increase in the instance and severity of ligament and tendon injuries. While he can't prove steroid use is a factor, he says these kinds of injuries can result from stress on tendons caused by overdeveloped muscles. "In baseball players, we see an increase in the incidence of rotator cuff injuries, a large increase in (injuries to elbow ligaments) related to the stress of throwing," he says. The "real distressing aspect," he says, "is we're seeing these career-threatening injuries in the shoulders and elbows of baseball players in younger and younger age groups."
A USA TODAY database study showed a 32% increase in stints on the major league disabled list in the past 10 years. Injuries to large joints increased 58%, while all other injuries increased only 5%. The number of injuries identified as tendon or ligament injuries in baseball jumped 224% between 1992 and 2001.
Andrews has completed a study, not yet published, that looks at sports injuries in athletes under 18 and found elbow ligament injuries and shoulder injuries in young athletes have increased dramatically. He doesn't know why. "We don't have the statistics to tell us what's going on, but we're all worried," he says.
That's a concern, because prolonged use of steroids is likely to increase the chance of side effects, including those that might be life-threatening, he says. "I don't want to say it's causing these things all over the place ... but we know there are side effects and they're being minimized by athletes. They think they're invincible. But until we test for it and know (who is using the drugs), we'll be sitting here guessing.
"The problem is the almighty dollar," Andrews says. "Parents are doing whatever they can to make professional athletes out of their children. Some start planning at 2 years of age. There's a lot of enticement to do what is necessary to enhance performance."
Cincinnati outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. sees the same problem at the major league level. "All you can do is live your life the right way and not worry about the other guys. You see things and you hear things, but what can you do? Guys know the risks, but they also know there's big money out there."
Messages from pros carry weight
The lure of big muscles, an athletic scholarship or a pro career is irresistible to many youngsters, DiNubile says. "We need real vigilance here and for more parents and coaches to be aware."
Doctors can issue warnings, but they might not have much impact, he says. Kids might need to hear it from more influential sources.
"It would be tremendously helpful," DiNubile says, "if some sports heroes would be more visible on this issue, be willing to stand up, speak to our kids and educate them. Because kids listen to their heroes."
But Los Angeles first baseman Eric Karros says he's disturbed by the suggestion that steroid use by major leaguers will create a cause-and-effect spike in use by younger athletes. "If people make decisions based on something they've read or what a sports figure says, if that's solely how they make decisions, then there's obviously a lack of parenting," he says.
But others in baseball see a responsibility.
"Our sport is a microcosm of society," Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker says. "We know that substance abuse, including steroids, is certainly a problem throughout our society. To have our head in the sand and convince ourselves that it's not a problem is probably a bit naive and irresponsible. There's growing evidence steroids are dangerous and can even be life-threatening. It certainly behooves all of us to come up with a meaningful education and control policy."
