Biden Measure to Ban Designer Steroids Becomes Law

BIDEN MEASURE TO BAN DESIGNER STEROIDS BECOMES LAW

President Bush Signs Measure Banning Andro Into Law

Friday, October 22, 2004

WASHINGTON, DC

Earlier today, the President signed into law Joe Biden's (D-DE) legislation to make dangerous performance-enhancing drugs illegal.

Biden's Anabolic Steroid Control Act adds 18 substances to the list of banned anabolic steroids, including androstenedione (also known as "andro") and tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Biden's measure also provides $15 million for education programs to teach kids about the dangers of steroids. It also calls for criminal penalties for those caught making, selling, or possessing these substances.

"Steroid use by young people is a serious health issue. A lot of kids don't know harmful this stuff really is," said Biden, Co-Chairman of the Senate Drug Caucus. "This new law sends a strong message about andro and other steroid precursors - we are calling them what they really are: drugs, performance enhancing drugs. They should be labeled as such, they should be treated as such, and now, thanks to this new law, they will be controlled in the same manner as other anabolic steroids."

"It's not only a health issue but also a values issue," Biden continued. "If kids think that all of the best athletes are 'on the juice,' what does that teach them? I think it teaches them that they should use steroids or steroid precursors to get ahead and win the game; that cheating is OK. This offends me to my core. The United States is the ultimate meritocracy and it is absolutely un-American to take a performance-enhancing drug to get an unfair competitive advantage."

Steroid precursors, or "pro-steroids," are chemically related to the substances scheduled in the 1990 Controlled Substances Act that made trafficking in steroids illegal. When ingested, these substances metabolize into testosterone or other illicit steroids. The United States Anti-Doping Agency, the group in charge of testing Olympic athletes for performance enhancing drugs, has called these products "the functional equivalent of steroids." Many physicians, parents and coaches have called for action against these dangerous products.