Prepared Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
Hearing on Body Building Products and Hidden Steroids: Enforcement Barriers
Mr. Chairman. I remain very concerned about the continuing prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. The ongoing reports of the use of performance-enhancing drugs/supplements in the professional sporting world, illustrate the presence of a disturbing culture throughout all sports. It is becoming all too common to read not only about professional athletes getting caught using performance-enhancing drugs, but also college and high school athletes turning to these substances to gain a competitive edge. Although much progress was made when Congress passed the Anabolic Steroid Control Act in 2004, we cannot relent in our efforts to keep performance-enhancing drugs out of our society and away from our children.
Congress passed the Anabolic Steroid Control Act to make it easier for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to control performance-enhancing substances. Before passage of this law, several potentially harmful performance-enhancing substances were being marketed to younger athletes. One of the more famous examples of this occurred when Major League Baseball slugger Mark McGwire credited his use of the now-banned supplement, Andro, for his increased performance. Currently, new products are emerging and being marketed as alternatives to illegal steroids, by underground operations, in an effort to stay ahead of the law.
The dietary supplement, Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), is one example of how a supplement is being promoted as a performance-enhancing substance. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, DHEA is a pre-cursor hormone to androstenedione and testosterone. These substances became illegal anabolic steroids as a result of the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004. Although the use of DHEA is banned by most professional sports leagues and the NCAA, DHEA is still being marketed online to younger athletes. One bodybuilding website, directed towards teenagers, features a teen bodybuilder of the week to promote performance-enhancing supplements. A 19 year-old Junior National Champion bodybuilder is one of the bodybuilders on this website. When asked what supplement gave him the greatest gains for his competition this teenager replied, “DHEA.” In another website, DHEA is advertized as follows, “If you’re a bodybuilder, and want to increase lean body mass at the expense of body fat, actual studies show this supplement may significantly alter body composition, favoring lean mass accrual.” Another example on another website describes DHEA in this way, “DHEA is HOT, and you will see why. As a pre-cursor hormone, it leads to the production of other hormones. When this compound is supplemented, it has shown to have awesome effects.” These advertisements are geared to the younger crowd, even though DHEA has no legitimate use for teenagers.
These DHEA advertisements, and others like it, are having some impact on young athletes, especially in my state of Iowa. The Iowa Orthopaedic Journal published a study on nutritional supplement use in 20 Northwest Iowa high schools. In this study, 495 male football players and 407 female volleyball players were asked if they used nutritional supplements. The results of this anonymous survey revealed that 8 percent of football players and 2 percent of volleyball players used supplements. These students identified DHEA as one of the supplements that they used. The students were then asked to give the reason why they used DHEA and the general response was “for performance enhancement.”
Although the body naturally produces DHEA, the natural production of the hormone ceases around the age of 35. Many people over this age use DHEA, in low doses, as part of an “anti-aging” regimen. However, when taken in high doses over time, DHEA, like its other relatives in the steroid family, may cause liver damage and cancer. In fact, one study conducted by scientists at Oxford University revealed DHEA use to be strongly associated with breast cancer development. The truth is there are few studies about the long term effects DHEA has on the body. According to Dr. F. Clark Holmes, Director of Sports Medicine at Georgetown University, many proposed studies involving high doses of DHEA are denied approval out of concern that the product may cause irreversible harm to human subjects.
The Anabolic Steroid Control Act gives the DEA the authority to schedule any hormone or drug that is “chemically or pharmacologically related to testosterone.” However, the DEA cannot schedule DHEA because it fails to meet the criteria for scheduling. Because DHEA is not an “immediate precursor” to testosterone, but only a precursor to a precursor, it cannot be administratively scheduled. As a result, I have introduced legislation in this Congress and previous Congresses to ban the sale of DHEA to minors. This legislation does not address all the concerns with performance-enhancing drug use, but it will help keep a potentially harmful substance away from our kids.
Other supplements that do fall under the criteria for scheduling are subject to a highly time consuming process. These products remain available online and on the shelves of nutritional stores, even though consumers may not be aware that these products could soon be banned and may be potentially harmful. A simple internet search for “legal steroids” yields many results. One such website even encourages shoppers to buy their products soon before the government bans them.
I am not against the use of dietary supplements. I believe many dietary supplements can be beneficial to the health and well-being for many people. However, we must guard against those who artificially disguise performance-enhancing drugs as safe and legitimate supplements. In the highly competitive world of sports, the pressure to use performance-enhancing drugs can be overwhelming. Even though we, as a society, demand excellence from our favorite teams and athletes, we cannot accept this excellence to be falsely aided by a drug. Furthermore, we cannot allow harmful drugs to destroy the health of so many young and promising athletes. We have to continue to curb the use of performance-enhancing drugs for the health of our country and children.
I look forward to hearing all your views as to how these issues should be addressed.