A U.S. Senate bill designed to add steroid precursors to the list of anabolic steroids classified as controlled substances has drawn the full support of the NCAA, along with other sports and health organizations.

The Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2003, known as S.1780, was introduced by Sens. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in October and has been referred to the Senate's Judiciary Committee for review. No hearings have been held on the legislation.

The bill adds substances such as androstendione, or andro, and tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, to the list of anabolic steroids regulated under the 1990 Controlled Substances Act.

These substances, known as steroid precursors, currently are legal. However, when they are ingested, they metabolize into illicit steroids. These compounds commonly are found in nutritional supplements sold legally and over the counter.

In a December 1 letter to Biden, NCAA President Myles Brand expressed his strong support for the legislation.

"This legislation is vital to the student-athlete and public welfare because although steroid precursors are as dangerous as illegal anabolic steroids, they are not only legal, but free from federal regulation," Brand said.

"These supplements can cause physical harm and eligibility problems for student-athletes," he said. "Since these supplements are not only legal, but easily obtained, a student-athlete ingesting the supplement could easily assume that they are merely taking a legal dietary supplement, when in fact they are ingesting the functional equivalent of a harmful anabolic steroid, a controlled substance."

Brand went on to say that the NCAA and its member institutions would support future legislation that also eliminates dehyroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, a precursor to testosterone, from the over-the-counter supplement market. The bill, as currently proposed, does not include DHEA.

Honest labeling sought

In announcing their bill, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Biden and Hatch said they were concerned about the marketing of these products to children.

"It is time we started being honest and calling andro and other steroid precursors what they really are: drugs. Performance-enhancing drugs," said Biden. "They should be labeled as such. They should be treated as such and they should be controlled in the same manner as other anabolic steroids."

Hatch added, "Our major sports organizations are banning pro-steroids because they know what our kids don't: that these substances carry serious risks. The federal government must take action."

The bill also authorizes $15 million for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to public and nonprofit entities to carry out science-based education programs in elementary and secondary schools to highlight the harmful effects of the drugs.

Additionally, the bills calls for $1 million for the secretary of health and human services to include questions about steroid use in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual survey to measure the extent of drug and alcohol use in the United States.

According to Mary Wilfert, assistant director of education outreach for the NCAA, the Association has taken numerous steps to ensure student-athletes are aware of the dangers that can be lurking in over-the-counter supplements.

Every year an advisory is sent to NCAA member institutions' athletics departments, along with a drug-testing program booklet that includes a bolded warning about steroid precursors. Additionally, she said, there are regular articles in Association publications about the issue.

Wilfert said she also talks to student groups and athletics-administrator groups about the dangers in some nutritional supplements.

Despite those efforts, some student-athletes are still not getting the message, she said.

"Unfortunately, there's still some surprise," she said. "Even though we are putting the messages out there that you have to be cautious of anything that you use, that's not clicking somehow. We're still struggling with how do we get that to click. We're combating a multi-billion-dollar industry that is promoting these products."

Effect on testing

Of the 13,000 drug tests the NCAA conducts each year, about 2 percent will come back positive, said Andrea Wickerham, legal relations and policy director for The National Center for Drug Free Sport, the group that conducts the Association's drug-testing program.

Wickerham said it's difficult to say exactly how many of that 2 percent are due to anabolic steroids. However, she estimates that of the pool of positives due to anabolic steroids, more than 80 percent of those cases are due to nutritional supplements.

About half of the students who test positive will appeal the decision, she said, but of the nearly 40 appeals a year, only one or two student-athletes will be successful. Wickerham noted that ignorance about substances contained in some nutritional supplements is not enough to win an appeal.

"Student-athletes need to check out anything they take, because a vitamin could even contain a banned substance," said Wilfert. "Anything over the counter, they need to check those items out with their athletic trainer before they use it."

In addition to the NCAA, the proposed Senate bill has the backing of a group called the Coalition for Anabolic Steroid Precursor and Ephedra Regulation, or CASPER. The NCAA also belongs to CASPER.

Other groups involved with CASPER include: the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Medical Association, the Association of Tennis Professionals, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the National Football League, the United States Olympic Committee, the governing bodies of numerous Olympic sports and the National Federation of State High School Associations.

In addition to backing S. 1780, the coalition supports a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that also seeks to ban those substances, as well as pertinent ephedra legislation. No action has been taken on the House bill, which only has been introduced and not referred to committee.

"In an effort to ensure a competitive, but level, playing field, the NCAA supports all efforts to keep intercollegiate athletics free from all performance-enhancing drugs," said Brand. "The effort to keep student-athletes free from such substances, however, is an effort that requires federal assistance. S. 1780 is a vital step in ensuring a safe and competitive environment in intercollegiate competition."