According to a report on CNN’s Sports Illustrated website (SI.com) this week, three major-league baseball players received shipments of banned performance-enhancing (anabolic) steroids over several years. The report cites records obtained from unnamed sources. Although Major League Baseball has asked to talk to the players, none of the three has yet tested positive for steroids.
Huh? Perhaps we’ll hear a variation of the old “I smoked but I didn’t inhale” defense - “I bought them, but I never used them…”.
Anti-doping experts believe that players may be escaping detection by using human growth hormone in conjunction with very small doses of performance-enhancing steroids such as testosterone. Although there is no reliable test for exogenous human growth hormone, its use is banned by Major League Baseball.
The use of anabolic steroids in sports is discussed in Human Biology, 5th ed., pp. 134-135.
