December 18, 2007 at 1:52 am | Steroid History
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Google has made millions of dollars from companies selling steroids through Google’s contextual ad service. But Google was assisted by mainstream news outlets like NYTimes.com and CNN.com who displayed the ads offering “steroids for sale.”
Michael Arrington recently commented on this at TechCrunch:
The problem with automated advertising on news sites has always been the placing of inappropriate ads next to serious news issues.
Many news/media websites posted editorials complaining about the dangers of anabolic steroids and the role of the internet in facilitating steroid sales only to provide links for consumers to buy steroids (and receive payment from Google for displaying those links). Read the rest of this entry »
December 17, 2007 at 2:35 pm | Steroid Commentary, Steroid Law, Steroids and Baseball, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
The Mitchell Report made some nice weekend reading; it was a good piece of investigative journalism on the history of steroid use in professional baseball. I’ve offered my criticism of the Mitchell Report as being an overpriced review of secondary sources that was extensively documented elsewhere. But I must admit there was a good amount of primary source reporting in the testimony of Kirk Radomski and Brian McNamee (thanks to the U.S. Justice Department).
The allegations and naming of specific baseball players was the sensationalistic information that the public eagerly consumed. Some news organizations dismissed all of this as “hearsay.” This is incorrect. Willamette law professor Jeffrey Standen offers an excellent clarification: Read the rest of this entry »
December 17, 2007 at 2:07 am | Steroid Commentary, Steroid Health, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
I’ve previously discussed known loopholes for testosterone use in drug testing programs. And of course, the fact that growth hormone use is undetectable via drug testing urinalysis makes it an easy and attractive drug for the athlete seeking performance enhancement.
Just as problematic is the loophole of “therapeutic use exemptions” (TUE) for performance-enhancing drugs on the banned substance list. In many cases, an athlete can use performance enhancing drugs (even steroids) with impugnity if they are granted a TUE for a medically documented condition.
The therapeutic use loophole is not widely publicized by WADA and other drug testing organizations because it does not contribute to the appearance of an effective drug testing program and a “clean sport.” Read the rest of this entry »
December 16, 2007 at 4:47 pm | Steroid Commentary, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
What if every baseball player used the BALCO “cream” according to protocol? Would anyone fail the current MLB doping controls?
I could figure out how to take a fair amount of testosterone and you’d never catch me, and if I can say that, a lot of others can too.
Who is accredited with the aforementioned statement? Patrick Arnold? Victor Conte? Read the rest of this entry »
December 14, 2007 at 11:55 pm | Steroid Commentary, Steroids and Baseball, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
According to the Mitchell Report, the use of anabolic steroids by athletes is not simply an ethical problem or a health problem. Cheating with the use of performance enhancing drugs is a “broader and more nuanced activity” that can seriously threaten the integrity of baseball.
Baseball players who use anabolic steroids are vulnerable to being victimized by gamblers:
[D]rug dealers could blackmail a player to alter the outcome of a game in exchange for maintaining the secrecy of the player’s substance use. Such threats to the integrity of the game are as serious as gambling. Read the rest of this entry »
December 14, 2007 at 6:40 pm | Steroid Commentary, Steroid Health, Steroids and Baseball, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
The Mitchell Report noted problems with current steroid education programs in MLB that focus on severe steroid dangers and deleterious side effects:
[T]hese health risks… generally will not deter a player from using these substances. This is because players who use or are considering using performance enhancing substances do not consider them dangerous if used properly. This view is reinforced when players see that other players who they know are using performance enhancing substances arc not experiencing the adverse health effects described in the educational materials.
This makes sense. If steroid use is rampant and the clubhouse, yet no one is experiencing any of the negative side effects, then why would players give any credence to the MLB “steroid education” programs? Perhaps overstating and exaggerating the side effects and related scare tactics are not effective in a drug education program? Read the rest of this entry »
December 14, 2007 at 3:23 pm | Steroid Commentary, Steroids and Baseball, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
The Mitchell Report reveals the general ignorance about steroid use by Major League Baseball players and many other athletes in competitive sports. I would hope that the investment of millions of dollars into steroid use in MLB would result in a basic understanding of the various steroids used by baseball players and the quantities involved.
But apparently this was not within the scope of their investigation. Instead, investigators relied on a survey of bodybuilders and weightlifters to document and determine the manner, methods, and quantities of anabolic steroids used by professional baseball players and presumably all competitive athletes. Read the rest of this entry »
December 14, 2007 at 1:07 am | Steroid Commentary, Steroids and Baseball, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
The highly anticipated Mitchell Report on the “illegal use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players in major league baseball” was publicly released today. Dozens of writers will offer their commentary on the 400+ page report (including appendices). I am fairly certain my commentary in the next few days will be a departure from the norm.
The first thing that I want to bring attention to is the extent of bias against author William Llewellyn and his exhaustive anabolic steroid reference manual, Anabolics 2007. His 1000+ page reference is the most exhaustive treatise of performance enhancing substances used in competitive sports. Read the rest of this entry »
December 13, 2007 at 2:11 am | Steroid Commentary, Steroid Health, Steroid History, Steroid Law, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
Several months ago, Bill Llewellyn and Rick Collins told me about an independent filmmaker that was interested in hearing their perspective on the “steroid issue”; Chris Bell patiently spent several hours with each of them for on camera interviews. They had a good feeling about the film he was making finally hoping to see a truthful examination of anabolic steroids in society appear on the big screen.
I had the opportunity to meet Chris Bell, the director and screenwriter of “Bigger, Stronger, Faster,” at the 2007 Ironman Pro Expo in Pasadena thanks to an introduction from my good friend Rehan Jalali. After talking with Chris, I could understand why so many people were excited by this film. Clearly, Chris was striving for an open and honest examination of steroids free of the hysteria that is so commonplace nowadays. The irony is that it is most likely this same hysteria that makes financing of such independent documentaries possible. Read the rest of this entry »
December 6, 2007 at 2:28 pm | Steroid Commentary, Steroid Health, Steroids in Sports
- Posted by Millard Baker |
A recent study revealed approximately 25% of popular dietary supplements in the U.S. were contaminated with low levels of steroids; 11% of supplements were contaminated with stimulants, most commonly ephedrine. These steroidal and stimulant ingredients were not declared on the product label.
The study was done by Informed Choice, a nonprofit coalition of dietary supplements, and the analysis was conducted by the British company, HFL, to investigate levels of steroid and stimulant contamination in popular supplements available on the US market. The names of the supplements that were tested were not identified. This is most likely out of fear of legal action against them by any company should it be named in the study results. Read the rest of this entry »
