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07-15-2007, 11:07 AM
July 15, 2007, 2:26AM
UIL may wait to test athletes for steroids
State officials worry over-the-counter supplements will trigger positive results
By GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — High school athletes who use over-the-counter supplements found in nutrition and grocery stores could fail the state's new steroid test, which will be given randomly to thousands of Texas students starting as early as this fall.
Those plans could be delayed for the upcoming high school football season unless state officials can alert parents and student athletes quickly enough or find a way to accommodate positive test results from nutritional supplements, said state Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, who authored the legislation.
The legislation instructs the University Interscholastic League to start the steroid testing program in "the 2007-2008 school year" without specifying a date. Janek emphasized that the testing program does not have to be in place for the upcoming football season.
A study several years ago by the International Olympic Committee Sports Nutrition Working Group found that nearly one in five dietary supplements sold in U.S. stores was contaminated with chemicals causing a "positive doping test."
Some state officials and drug-testing experts are urging high school athletes to avoid nutritional supplements.
"The message should be: 'Don't take supplements at all.' I believe that we have to do everything we can to get all the education out there as quickly as we can before we start testing," said Jeff Kloster, associate commissioner of the Texas Education Agency.
The UIL, which governs Texas high school competition, plans to carry out a legislative mandate to conduct random tests for steroid use starting this fall. Preliminary plans call for the testing program to involve between 20,000 and 25,000 student athletes at 400 high schools.
The primary job of state leaders is to help young people make the right decisions, Kloster said.
"It's not about proposing rules to bust somebody, because we're dealing with young lives here," he said. "We ought to be educating. That ought to be our primary goal. If we educate and then they violate it, then, yes, there should be some penalties."
The head of the country's largest company that tests college athletes estimated that 1 percent or 2 percent of Texas high school student athletes would show positive steroid test results because of dietary supplements. That could include as many as 500 students.
There is little recourse for anyone testing positive for steroids, unless a physician prescribes their use, Kloster said.
"If you test positive, you test positive, and the only way to get out of it is to either show a problem with the chain of custody (of the urine sample) or that the sample was taken inappropriately," he said.
'Don't take them'
Because they are neither food nor drug, dietary supplements are not closely regulated by the Federal Drug Administration. Many of the contents are not listed on the label. And dietary supplements purchased over the Internet often contain "pro hormones" that likely would trigger positive test results, experts say.
"So it always leads us to the question: What is an athlete to do? And here's a very unpopular answer: Don't take them," said Frank Uryasz, president of the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Center for Drug Free Sport.
It's the same advice offered by Edward Coyle, professor of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the school's Human Performance Laboratory.
"So many of the kids want to take protein powder and creatine and these exotic sounding herbs that supposedly naturally raise your body level of testosterone. For the most part, they don't. But they contain enough of these substances that will cause a positive test," said Coyle, a member of the International Olympic Committee Sports Nutrition Working Group.
Many student athletes are lured to dietary supplements as a way to get bigger and faster. Products marketed for muscle-building seldom live up to their billing, he said.
"The likelihood is that many of these products have chemical properties that are similar enough to steroids that will cause molecules and chemicals in your urine that will react with the methods that they are using to detect anabolic steroids," Coyle said.
The UT professor predicted the number of students who test positive because of dietary supplements could be greater than those who test positive because of steroid use.
Responsibility urged
The 2000 study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee and published in a German scientific journal found that 18.8 percent of dietary supplements purchased in the U.S. were contaminated with ingredients known to cause "a positive doping test."
Coyle said he couldn't say for sure whether results would be similar seven years later, adding, "I haven't seen major changes in the way that the dietary supplements industry is regulated."
A spokeswoman for GNC, the large national nutrition chain, said there's no reason for athletes to avoid the store's products.
"GNC products do not contain illegal anabolic steroids. Rather, they are legal dietary supplements," company spokeswoman Faith Cavill said. "Nonetheless, some legal dietary supplements may be included in a certain league's list of prohibited performance enhancing substances. It is the responsibility of the individual athlete to understand and monitor their supplement usage to ensure they comply with their league's testing policy."
No honor in cheating
Westlake High School athletic director and head football coach Derek Long said he already has alerted coaches and parents about the potential perils of nutritional supplements "so we can possibly avoid a false positive."
The Austin school is one of the state's elite high school football programs, appearing in the state championship game seven times over the past 16 years.
"I take a real hard stand on steroids," Long said. "We want to do things right. ... We tell them to eat right and eat more."
Long said he considers football "an opportunity to teach these young men some (of) life's lessons; there's no honor if you are cheating; you really haven't accomplished anything if you are cheating."
Andrew Luck, quarterback for Stratford High in the Spring Branch Independent School District, said he does not use diet supplements but knows many friends who do to bulk up.
"It is legal, from what I know, so it's perfectly fine with me," said Luck, who has accepted a scholarship offer from Stanford University.
Getting the word out to people about the potential connection of dietary supplements and positive steroid test results will take some time, Luck said.
Those who get the information probably will refrain from the supplements, he said "because the threat of not being able to play for how long and having to sit out is a big one."
Luck said he knows of no one who takes anabolic steroids "or who has told me. You can always speculate about people, but I personally know of no one who takes them."
The consequences
Anabolic steroid use can cause severe physical and emotional consequences, including stunted growth, high blood pressure, liver tumors and wide mood swings ranging from uncontrolled anger and aggressiveness to clinical depression when people stop using steroids, said Janek, the Senate author of the legislation and an anesthesiologist.
The UIL has been working on a promotional DVD to warn high school students about the danger of steroids and the pending steroid-testing program.
"We will add a statement at the end of that DVD ... that there is a possibility that a positive steroid test could result from supplements, not only from steroid use itself, but also from supplements that may either contain or be contaminated with steroidlike chemicals," said Mark Cousins, athletic coordinator for the UIL.
Cousins said the UIL will launch the steroid testing program in the coming school year as required. However, Janek said he will send a letter to UIL officials from legislative leaders urging them to slow down the testing process, if necessary.
"I don't want a situation where somebody can follow the rules and not take illegal drugs but rather take a legal dietary supplement and then get in trouble for it. That does no one any good," Janek said.
"We want it up and running this school year, but that doesn't mean it has to be up for the fall," he said. "My legislative intent was to allow (UIL officials) latitude in the timing of the implementation. While it's up in the 07-08 school year, nobody said you have to test football players (this fall). Take your time and get it right."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he also plans to send UIL officials a letter asking them to consider including on consent forms, which high school athletes and their parents sign, information about a ban of certain nutritional supplements that the state of California imposed.
"I don't want to see any kid going through any stress or trauma," Dewhurst said.
However, he also emphasized, "Parents and the young athletes, at the end of the day, have to be responsible, like we all are in life, for what they put into their bodies."
Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, was among seven of 181 Texas lawmakers, who voted against the steroid testing bill.
"We're going to have a situation where some kid is going to be accused of being on steroids, and he's going to say he's not and where do we go from there?" Patrick asked. "We're trying to catch all these people in the net for a handful of people who are making bad decisions. There's no law that can stop human behavior."
gscharrer@express-news.net
UIL may wait to test athletes for steroids
State officials worry over-the-counter supplements will trigger positive results
By GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — High school athletes who use over-the-counter supplements found in nutrition and grocery stores could fail the state's new steroid test, which will be given randomly to thousands of Texas students starting as early as this fall.
Those plans could be delayed for the upcoming high school football season unless state officials can alert parents and student athletes quickly enough or find a way to accommodate positive test results from nutritional supplements, said state Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, who authored the legislation.
The legislation instructs the University Interscholastic League to start the steroid testing program in "the 2007-2008 school year" without specifying a date. Janek emphasized that the testing program does not have to be in place for the upcoming football season.
A study several years ago by the International Olympic Committee Sports Nutrition Working Group found that nearly one in five dietary supplements sold in U.S. stores was contaminated with chemicals causing a "positive doping test."
Some state officials and drug-testing experts are urging high school athletes to avoid nutritional supplements.
"The message should be: 'Don't take supplements at all.' I believe that we have to do everything we can to get all the education out there as quickly as we can before we start testing," said Jeff Kloster, associate commissioner of the Texas Education Agency.
The UIL, which governs Texas high school competition, plans to carry out a legislative mandate to conduct random tests for steroid use starting this fall. Preliminary plans call for the testing program to involve between 20,000 and 25,000 student athletes at 400 high schools.
The primary job of state leaders is to help young people make the right decisions, Kloster said.
"It's not about proposing rules to bust somebody, because we're dealing with young lives here," he said. "We ought to be educating. That ought to be our primary goal. If we educate and then they violate it, then, yes, there should be some penalties."
The head of the country's largest company that tests college athletes estimated that 1 percent or 2 percent of Texas high school student athletes would show positive steroid test results because of dietary supplements. That could include as many as 500 students.
There is little recourse for anyone testing positive for steroids, unless a physician prescribes their use, Kloster said.
"If you test positive, you test positive, and the only way to get out of it is to either show a problem with the chain of custody (of the urine sample) or that the sample was taken inappropriately," he said.
'Don't take them'
Because they are neither food nor drug, dietary supplements are not closely regulated by the Federal Drug Administration. Many of the contents are not listed on the label. And dietary supplements purchased over the Internet often contain "pro hormones" that likely would trigger positive test results, experts say.
"So it always leads us to the question: What is an athlete to do? And here's a very unpopular answer: Don't take them," said Frank Uryasz, president of the Kansas City, Mo.-based National Center for Drug Free Sport.
It's the same advice offered by Edward Coyle, professor of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the school's Human Performance Laboratory.
"So many of the kids want to take protein powder and creatine and these exotic sounding herbs that supposedly naturally raise your body level of testosterone. For the most part, they don't. But they contain enough of these substances that will cause a positive test," said Coyle, a member of the International Olympic Committee Sports Nutrition Working Group.
Many student athletes are lured to dietary supplements as a way to get bigger and faster. Products marketed for muscle-building seldom live up to their billing, he said.
"The likelihood is that many of these products have chemical properties that are similar enough to steroids that will cause molecules and chemicals in your urine that will react with the methods that they are using to detect anabolic steroids," Coyle said.
The UT professor predicted the number of students who test positive because of dietary supplements could be greater than those who test positive because of steroid use.
Responsibility urged
The 2000 study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee and published in a German scientific journal found that 18.8 percent of dietary supplements purchased in the U.S. were contaminated with ingredients known to cause "a positive doping test."
Coyle said he couldn't say for sure whether results would be similar seven years later, adding, "I haven't seen major changes in the way that the dietary supplements industry is regulated."
A spokeswoman for GNC, the large national nutrition chain, said there's no reason for athletes to avoid the store's products.
"GNC products do not contain illegal anabolic steroids. Rather, they are legal dietary supplements," company spokeswoman Faith Cavill said. "Nonetheless, some legal dietary supplements may be included in a certain league's list of prohibited performance enhancing substances. It is the responsibility of the individual athlete to understand and monitor their supplement usage to ensure they comply with their league's testing policy."
No honor in cheating
Westlake High School athletic director and head football coach Derek Long said he already has alerted coaches and parents about the potential perils of nutritional supplements "so we can possibly avoid a false positive."
The Austin school is one of the state's elite high school football programs, appearing in the state championship game seven times over the past 16 years.
"I take a real hard stand on steroids," Long said. "We want to do things right. ... We tell them to eat right and eat more."
Long said he considers football "an opportunity to teach these young men some (of) life's lessons; there's no honor if you are cheating; you really haven't accomplished anything if you are cheating."
Andrew Luck, quarterback for Stratford High in the Spring Branch Independent School District, said he does not use diet supplements but knows many friends who do to bulk up.
"It is legal, from what I know, so it's perfectly fine with me," said Luck, who has accepted a scholarship offer from Stanford University.
Getting the word out to people about the potential connection of dietary supplements and positive steroid test results will take some time, Luck said.
Those who get the information probably will refrain from the supplements, he said "because the threat of not being able to play for how long and having to sit out is a big one."
Luck said he knows of no one who takes anabolic steroids "or who has told me. You can always speculate about people, but I personally know of no one who takes them."
The consequences
Anabolic steroid use can cause severe physical and emotional consequences, including stunted growth, high blood pressure, liver tumors and wide mood swings ranging from uncontrolled anger and aggressiveness to clinical depression when people stop using steroids, said Janek, the Senate author of the legislation and an anesthesiologist.
The UIL has been working on a promotional DVD to warn high school students about the danger of steroids and the pending steroid-testing program.
"We will add a statement at the end of that DVD ... that there is a possibility that a positive steroid test could result from supplements, not only from steroid use itself, but also from supplements that may either contain or be contaminated with steroidlike chemicals," said Mark Cousins, athletic coordinator for the UIL.
Cousins said the UIL will launch the steroid testing program in the coming school year as required. However, Janek said he will send a letter to UIL officials from legislative leaders urging them to slow down the testing process, if necessary.
"I don't want a situation where somebody can follow the rules and not take illegal drugs but rather take a legal dietary supplement and then get in trouble for it. That does no one any good," Janek said.
"We want it up and running this school year, but that doesn't mean it has to be up for the fall," he said. "My legislative intent was to allow (UIL officials) latitude in the timing of the implementation. While it's up in the 07-08 school year, nobody said you have to test football players (this fall). Take your time and get it right."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he also plans to send UIL officials a letter asking them to consider including on consent forms, which high school athletes and their parents sign, information about a ban of certain nutritional supplements that the state of California imposed.
"I don't want to see any kid going through any stress or trauma," Dewhurst said.
However, he also emphasized, "Parents and the young athletes, at the end of the day, have to be responsible, like we all are in life, for what they put into their bodies."
Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, was among seven of 181 Texas lawmakers, who voted against the steroid testing bill.
"We're going to have a situation where some kid is going to be accused of being on steroids, and he's going to say he's not and where do we go from there?" Patrick asked. "We're trying to catch all these people in the net for a handful of people who are making bad decisions. There's no law that can stop human behavior."
gscharrer@express-news.net