The Observer, January 28, 2005
Volume XXXVII, Issue 15
Performance enhancing drugs have potentially damaging effects
Last week's article explained that many prominent athletes are taking performance enhancing drugs to gain an unfair advantage in their respective sports. Suspected drug takers specifically mentioned were home run king Barry Bonds and sprint champion Marion Jones. This article will attempt to identify what types of drugs are used to enhance an athlete's performance and outline their potentially beneficial and negative effects on the human body.
Performance enhancing drugs include steroids, human growth hormone, cocaine, high doses of caffeine, and erythropoietin (EPO), which stimulates the body to manufacture red blood cells and thus increases an athlete's aerobic capacity. The one most prominently featured in the news lately has been anabolic steroids due to the controversy in Major League Baseball. However, baseball players are not the only ones who have used this drug to gain an edge. Before the NFL began testing in the 1980s for steroids, many players were using them. After the NFL banned their use, players like Brian Bosworth, linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks, had notable decreases in the effectiveness of their play and appeared to have lost strength and size. Bosworth admits to have taken steroids and also says they allowed him to play professional football when he otherwise may not have had the talent to do so.
Indeed, anabolic steroids are noted to increase strength and muscle mass, so people who stop taking them started to "deflate" into more normal-looking human beings. Of course, when a man without the talent to compete stops cheating, he can no longer compete successfully. Bosworth discovered this the hard way when he was continually overmatched on the football field. When an athlete is physically overmatched, potential for injury is much higher. Not surprisingly, injuries quickly ended Bosworth's career soon after he stopped taking steroids.
Steroids represent one class of performance enhancing drugs while caffeine and cocaine represent another. Steroids build bulk and help an athlete to train harder because they facilitate both muscle growth and recovery after a workout. On the other hand, cocaine and high doses of caffeine act as stimulants to rev up the sympathetic nervous system. According to a recent study, it is estimated that 40 percent of NFL players use cocaine. Some use it recreationally, but others actually snort or smoke cocaine before games to "go crazy" on the football field. People on cocaine experience increased heart rate, energy, blood pressure, alertness, and dilated pupils. These effects of cocaine all lead to better performance on the football field for players, especially defensive linemen who have to overpower much larger offensive linemen en route to the quarterback. Just think about the intimidation factor for the opponent of an athlete on crack. If I'm an offensive lineman and the guy lined up against me looks like Tony Montana–the ruthless, coke-taking main character from the movie Scarface–then I'll probably allow him to pass me unimpeded.
Amazingly, caffeine, the stimulant found in everything from coffee to tea to chocolate, is also used to enhance performance, and its overuse was once banned by sports such as track and field. U.S. sprinter Inger Miller was stripped of a bronze medal in the 60 meters at the 1999 world indoor championships after a positive caffeine test. Furthermore, in the 2003 Pan American Games, Letitia Vriesde of Surinam lost her gold in the 800 for having elevated levels of the stimulant (equivalent to 50 cups of regular coffee) in her system. Caffeine affects the body in some similar ways as cocaine, in that it increases the sympathetic nervous system activity. This causes increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and alertness. However, in late 2003 caffeine was officially taken off of the banned substance list by the World Anti-Doping Agency regardless of the amount present in the blood of an athlete when a blood sample is taken just before the competition.
Regarding the whole steroid scandal, a colleague of mine recently told me, "Since everyone's taking them anyways, why not just legalize them?" However, allowing the use of performance enhancing drugs should not and never will happen because the inherent risks of using these drugs prohibit their legalization. The unwanted side effects of steroids include severe acne, the formation of "man boobs," uncontrollable aggression, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and impotence. Human growth hormone is known to increase blood pressure and fluid retention. It also can cause carpal tunnel syndrome, joint pain, and diabetes.
The best example of why not to take performance enhancing drugs is the story of Ken Caminiti. The 1996 National League Most Valuable Player, Caminiti admitted to taking steroids during his playing days. He gave only one reason for why he stopped taking them – his testicles shrank to the size of peas, and this scared him. Additionally, Caminiti was known to have a recreational cocaine habit. I use the words "was known" not because Caminiti stopped using cocaine and has turned his life around, but because he dropped dead of a massive heart attack in 2004 at age 41. A cardiologist explained that Caminiti's heart basically exploded in his chest due to years of steroid abuse.
"By revving the heart up with steroids, making it grow bigger, and then taking those steroids away, you end up with a heart muscle that's enlarging and then contracting," explained Dr. Eric Braverman, a New York City doctor who counsels pro athletes on steroid abuse, among other medical issues. "It's like putting Roger Clemens' arm in a sling and then telling him to pitch."
The doctor's description proves taking steroids were not worth it for Ken Caminiti, nor are they for anyone else who uses them. Nonetheless, high school students around the nation are getting the message that the only way to make it to the professional sports is to take performance enhancing drugs, despite knowing the related negative health consequences. Steroid use among high school athletes is at an all-time high. Moreover, nearly every high school football player uses creatine, a substance naturally produced by the body to aid in explosive muscle movements and increasing muscle strength and endurance. However, creatine at high doses may lead to ligament tears, fatigue, and dependence because the synthetic creatine permanently interrupts the body's natural production of the chemical. Furthermore, long-term studies have yet to be performed on creatine's effect on the human body, meaning the supplement may create problems for users later in their lives. In the end, the athletes who are taking performance enhancing drugs are putting those not using these substances at an extreme disadvantage. Therefore, health conscious athletes may have to resort to taking these dangerous drugs if they want to be the best in their sport. This is a real shame.
It is always exciting to see Barry Bonds hit a home run, but a lot of my appreciation for his accomplishments is tainted because of Bonds' probable use of performance enhancing drugs. Babe Ruth definitely did not use steroids. His idea of "juicing" involved the spit created from his use of chewing tobacco, and his training regimen diet included cigars, hot dogs, and beer instead of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and EPO. With his natural talent and abilities, Ruth was able to hit 714 home runs. How many homers would the Babe have hit if he had been using performance enhancing drugs? It is tough to say, but that the number probably would have been over 800 cannot be denied-unlike accusations of using performance enhancing drugs, which apparently can be denied.
The sad thing is that not only are Barry Bonds' accomplishments in question, but so are those of every baseball player. However, it is quite telling that few to no baseball players are adamantly taking a stand against the use of steroids in baseball, calling for rigorous rules, frequent and random testing, and harsh punishments for violators. Is it that all of these players are afraid that one of their teammates or friends will get caught, or do they have a more personal reason to keep their mouth shut? Only time will tell, but I have a feeling that if strict anti-steroid rules are implemented and enforced in baseball, Bond's record of 73 home runs in a season will never be broken. Why? Because 73 home runs in one season is seemingly impossible, even for Barry Bonds.
In my first article of the fall semester, I concluded that in the 2008 Olympic Games, the gold, silver, and bronze medals should be given not to the winners of the events, but instead to Bayer, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer because of the prevalence of athletes using their drugs in contests. Unfortunately, it appears we must give Bayer, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer the home run records, the title of World's Fastest Human, the Tour de France trophy, and many other sporting feats, too.
