Baseball looks into andro
Posted: Saturday December 12, 1998 08:29 PM
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The study will endeavor to determine what andro does and its side effects AP |
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Major league baseball commissioned two
Harvard researchers to conduct a study on the effects of androstenedione,
the muscle-building supplement used by Mark McGwire
and other players.
Joel Finkelstein and Benjamin Leder told a gathering of team doctors and
trainers at baseball's winter meetings Saturday there is not enough
evidence yet to determine its overall effect on athletes.
"They said it looks likes andro does raise testosterone levels," said Dr.
Jack Failla, the team doctor for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"But they stressed that it is a small study right now and they need more
time to definitively answer that question."
Baseball began its inquiry into andro shortly after The Associated
Press reported in August that McGwire had been using it for more than a
year.
Sometime before the start of the 1999 season, baseball expects to
announce its decision on whether to ban andro, discourage its use, or allow
it to be taken unchecked. The International Olympic Committee, NFL and NCAA
already prohibit the supplement.
Officials are concerned about the supplement's potential
performance-enhancing ability and that players are risking the long-term
effects associated with prolonged steroid use, including a higher incidence
of heart and liver disease.
"We still need to determine what andro does, whether it has the same
effect as testosterone and anabolic steroids," Failla said. "We know that
anabolic steroids, which are banned, do enhance performance. We are not
certain with andro and more importantly we don't know the side effects."
Champion Nutrition Inc., the company which supplies McGwire with andro,
estimates at least 100 ballplayers in the majors and minors use andro. The
company wouldn't release names, but Colorado's Dante
Bichette and Tampa Bay's Jose Canseco
acknowledge using andro.
The two researchers, along with Dr. Robert B. Millman, medical adviser to
the commissioner's office, and Dr. Joel Solomon, the union's medical
adviser, made presentations Saturday. Millman stresses that research is
still in the early stage.
"This was just an educational meeting," Millman said. "There was no
policy discussed. We need to wait until we can get more evidence."
Before finalizing its policy, baseball will consult with the IOC and the
medical directors of all the major professional sports. But the only way to
effectively ban andro would be to implement a random drug-testing program
similar to the NFL.
There is no chance that the union, which heard a presentation on andro at
its board meeting in Las Vegas earlier in the week, would ever agree to
such testing.
"I can't imagine the circumstances under which we would do that," said
association general counsel Eugene Orza, who is spearheading the union's
investigation.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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