Texas lawmakers must decide whether to eliminate the controversial $6 million high school steroid testing program when they begin their 2008 legislative session next week. In the first year of the program, the State conducted over ten thousand doping tests only to find 4 steroid positives out of 10,117 tests; an additional 22 cases were considered positive simply because students did not comply with testing rules but NOT because they tested positive for a banned substance (”Lawmakers to consider future of steroid testing,” January 9).
The results so far have found little to confirm fears that steroid use is a rampant problem. When the first 10,000 tests found only four positive results, critics declared the two-year program a waste of time and money.
Now state lawmakers must decide whether to keep the program chugging along, scale it down or eliminate it. The 2009 legislative session starts Tuesday.
Formula One has been steroid testing its drivers according to the anti-doping standards set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2005. Who would have thought the use of anabolic steroids was a concern in auto racing? (”F1 : Anti doping Formula 1 drug testing at Jerez last week,” December 16).
On the Thursday at the Spanish circuit, Ferrari’s two race drivers, as well as Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastien Buemi had to report to the FiA transporter to supply urine samples, the Swiss newspaper Blick reported.
Buemi, who this year was Red Bull’s test and reserve driver, revealed that he was also tested at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix.
“Some weeks later two physicians arrived at my parents’ house in Augle (Switzerland) at six in the morning and asked me for another sample.
Chess players are subjected to steroid testing because they hope to become an Olympic sport. Does Formula One want to become an Olympic sport too?
Chess grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk refused to submit to a WADA-sanctioned steroid testing at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden earlier this year. (Yes, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) tests its players for anabolic steroids.). Ivanchuk went into a “rage” when asked to submit a urine sample (”The Great Chess Doping Scandal,” December 11).
Who knows what was going through Ivanchuk’s head when, on Nov. 25 in Dresden, the last day of the Chess Olympiad, he lost to Gata Kamsky? What we do know, however, is that when the game against the American ended, a judge asked Ivanchuk to submit to a drug test. Instead, he stormed out of the room in the conference center, kicked a concrete pillar in the lobby, pounded a countertop in the cafeteria with his fists and then vanished into the coatroom. Throughout this performance, he was followed by a handful of officials.
The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has aspirations of becoming an Olympic discipline. As such, it must adopt the anti-doping code created by the Worldn Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA tests “athletes” in all “sports” for the same prohibited substances. The International Olympic Committe (IOC) requires adoption of the WADA code as a prerequisite to becoming part of the Olympics.
The California State Athletic Commission will implement a new steroid testing program on December 11, 2008. The steroid testing program will comply with World Anti-Doping Agency standards utilizing WADA-certified testing facility at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory.
The new MMA doping policy will test for recreational drugs in fighters in every show. Steroid testing will be conducted in all fighters at major shows. But only a limited number of fighters will be tested for anabolic steroids at smaller shows.
Locally, coaches and players in Battle Creek say steroids are virtually a non-issue. Football and track and field, sports that require muscle mass and speed, have long been the places where steroids are prevalent.
But not around here, according to Battle Creek Central boys track and field coach Larry Caper.
“In my years at Battle Creek Central, I have never seen it and kids never talk about it,” Caper said. “At the high school level, I don’t think (it goes on). You can tell by the performance of an athlete, from year to year, if times get extremely fast. You know what’s going on.”
Wow. You would think that most high school coaches would acknowledge that some high school athletes are unfortunately using anabolic steroids. While it may not be a public health crisis, the use of steroids by teenagers is a problem. Such naivete should be sufficient reason to disqualify anyone from coaching high school sports.
* “First, the athlete repeatedly calls their own cellphone until the message capacity is full,” Conte wrote. “This way, the athlete can claim to the testers that they didn’t get a message when they finally decide to make themselves available.
* “Secondly, they provide incorrect information on their whereabouts form. They say they are going one place and then go to another. Thereafter, they start using testosterone, growth hormone and other drugs for a short cycle of two to three weeks.
* “After the athlete . . . know that they will test clean, they become available and resume training at their regular facility. . . . Long story short, an athlete can continue to duck and dive until they have two missed tests.”
Dave Palumbo of Muscular Development Magazine reported that at least one IFBB pro bodybuilder has been asked to submit to a random drug test.
…I was contacted by an IFBB athlete in good standing who was sent a registered letter that informed this person that they were selected for a random drug test.As a result of this selection, they had 72 hours to report to a designated testing facility where they were required to submit a urine sample for analysis.The letter also explained that a failed drug test would result in suspension from the IFBB for a designated period of time.Furthermore, all test results, whether positive or negative, are being kept private; apparently to prevent embarrassment and/or loss of future potential income.Failure to provide urine samples within the designated 72-hour period is being considered a failed test.
[The] IFBB has implemented a testing protocol in the IFBB Professional League to “protect integrity and future of the sport.” The testing was implemented in response to other professional sports being “killed by the publicity” surrounding doping. Details of the IFBB’s new testing protocol were not revealed only that “there will be some testing throughout the coming year.” … Read the rest of this entry »
The extremely expensive steroid testing program in Texas high schools succeeded in catching not a single steroid using teenager, but two steroid users this year. It costs them $3 million to do this, but some feel it is worth it. But others strongly disagree with the high cost of the latest iteration of the war on drugs (”$3 Million in Student Steroid Testing Catches Two Kids,” July 2)
Texas taxpayers are learning one more way that they’re paying for the war on drugs: by spending $3 million dollars on steroid testing that only found 2 positive tests. That’s two tests out of 10,000 kids tested, indicating that the $3 million was spent on a drug that was being used by about 2 hundredths of one percent of the student populationthat was tested.
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