Finger pointed at supplements in baseball’s steroid scandal

WASHINGTON —It seems no one wants to take responsibility for the steroid scandal rocking Major League Baseball, not even the leaders, who continue to incessantly link steroid use to the sports nutrition industry.

That link was established again last month when, during testimony before a congressional committee, Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, challenged Congress to examine whether the Food and Drug Administration is doing its job in regulating dietary supplements.

“As I have previously suggested, perhaps Congress should examine whether the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act is being adequately enforced,” he charged during his prepared testimony at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on illegal steroid use by Major League Baseball athletes. “One of the members on the panel suggested that kids can buy [dietary supplement] stuff in stores. To the extent that that’s true, and I think it is, that means it is available in stores and legally.”

But supplements aren’t steroids, countered Steve Mister, president and chief executive officer of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, and steroids aren’t supplements. “It’s a red herring,” Mister told Drug Store News. “It’s an effort from Major League Baseball to deflect the spotlight onto something other than them. My hope is that Congress does not take the bait like that.”

The Mitchell Report, which former Sen. George Mitchell wrote based on his independent investigation on the illegal use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances by players in the MLB, only makes passing references to supplements, Mister noted, and makes no allegations that supplements are at the “heart of what’s wrong with Major League Baseball.”

During that same congressional hearing, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., shared a story about a video he had bought for his 14-year-old son to help prepare for the ensuing youth baseball league season.

“At the end of it, the person on the videotape said, ‘So what you need is three things: You need the equipment, you need this instruction booklet on how to make sure your form is good and then, of course, you need these supplements that you can go buy, too,’” Sarbanes said.

In response, Fehr said, “If any of you haven’t done it, please go to the drug store, GNC or somewhere else.… Every tree, every grass, every bush, every mineral…everything else anybody’s ever heard of is there.”

“The kind of products that we’re talking about are products that are safe in the first place,” Mister said. “Creatin [for example], wide margin of safety behind the product, no significant adverse events. There’s no harm if a kid stumbles onto it,” Mister added. “It’s not like they’re doing any danger to themselves.”