Although recent headlines about the use of steroids in Major League Baseball (Sports Illustrated, June 3, 2002) make it seem like a new problem, the NCAA has been aware of the growing use of anabolic steroids in baseball for many years.

The 1997 NCAA Drug-Use Survey of Student-Athletes revealed that baseball had the third-highest anabolic steroid rate of any sport, a trend that continued in the 2001 survey. The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports drug-testing and drug-education subcommittee became concerned and recommended that baseball be added to the year-round random testing program. Currently, the NCAA conducts year-round testing only for Divisions I and II football and Division I men's and women's track and field. The remaining sports, including baseball, are tested only at NCAA championships.

But the limitations of testing at championships are that (1) student-athletes are aware that they are going to be tested and can discontinue banned drugs well before the test and (2) the effects of performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids last well beyond their detection time. It is clear that in order to significantly deter the use of anabolic steroids, out-of-competition unannounced testing is required.

The Division II Management Council took action on this matter well before the recent revelations from Major League Baseball. Last year, the Council voted to include baseball players in the year-round testing program as a pilot project. Under the pilot project, no-penalty drug testing was begun in January 2002 to help determine the extent of the steroid problem in Division II baseball. From January until June 2002, when a Division II football program was selected for out-of-competition testing, two baseball players from that institution also were selected. However, the total number of student-athletes tested in Division II remained the same. Each Division II institution provided up-to-date squad lists for their baseball teams from which the players were randomly selected.

As with all NCAA drug testing, the National

Center for Drug Free Sport collected the samples under a strict chain of custody and with utmost professionalism. Those samples, along with all other NCAA samples, were sent to the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory for analysis. The UCLA lab is the only International Olympic Committee certified laboratory in the United States; it recently completed the drug testing at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

During the six months of the pilot program, 148 baseball players were tested at 74 Division II schools and 0.7 percent tested positive for an anabolic steroid. As a comparison, the overall positive rate for anabolic steroids in the Division II year-round football testing program was 1.8 percent. This was based on testing 2,151 football players during the 2001 calendar year. Because Division II was conducting baseball testing as a pilot project only, no penalties were given to those who tested positive.

Under the year-round testing program, the penalty for a student-athlete (currently only Divisions I and II football and Division I track) who tests positive for the first time is a one-year loss of eligibility. Any student-athlete who tests positive has the right to appeal to the drug-testing and drug-education subcommittee in the same manner as other positive drug tests. A second positive test for anabolic steroids would result in permanent loss of NCAA eligibility.

Baseball players, coaches and administrators should be aware that most positive drug tests for anabolic steroids in the NCAA result from taking over-the-counter dietary supplements. Supplements such as androstenedione, 19-norandrostenedione and DHEA are banned by the NCAA and will result in a positive drug test. Athletes should particularly avoid any supplements that purport to increase testosterone or muscle mass. Just because a supplement is available over-the-counter or is "natural" does not mean the NCAA allows it. The NCAA does not accept appeals for a positive test because an athlete was unaware of the contents of a dietary supplement.

Division II deserves congratulations for stepping up to the plate and confronting a serious issue. It recognized the problem and was the only NCAA division to conduct an investigation. The drug-testing and drug-education subcommittee has reviewed the results of the pilot project and has referred it back to the Division II Management Council. It will be up to the Council to decide whether to extend the pilot project with no penalties for another year of study, or begin formal testing with penalties.

While Major League Baseball appears to be striking out on this issue, Division II appears to have hit a home run for fair play.

Gary Green chairs the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports drug-testing and drug-education subcommittee. He is an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and team physician for Pepperdine University.