NEW YORK - Baseball's players union will have to defend its stance on steroids on Wednesday when union chief Don Fehr appears with other sports officials before the Senate Commerce Committee, whose members are expected to be anything but friendly.
Fehr, commissioner Bud Selig, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Terry Madden are scheduled to appear before the full committee, and Madden's presence means there will be heat on baseball's union.
USADA and other anti-doping groups have been critical of baseball's steroid-testing program, saying it is filled with too many loopholes to be effective. Unlike other sports, baseball does not test its players out of season, and it does not ban androstenedione, a legal steroid "precursor" that becomes a steroid when ingested.
The committee, chaired by John McCain (R-Ariz.), will ask "whether such policies effectively deter athletes from using dangerous performance-enhancing substances," according to a statement from committee staff. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is a member of the committee.
Baseball's union has argued that its players have a right to privacy when they are not playing, and should not be prevented from taking andro while it is still a legal product.
Twin bills in the House and Senate would reclassify andro as a "Schedule III" drug, meaning it would be subject to the same controls as other anabolic steroids. If the bills become law, baseball will add andro to its banned list. The co-sponsor of the Senate version, Joseph Biden (D-Del.), is expected to attend the hearing to make a pitch for his bill.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/8118774.htm
Fehr, commissioner Bud Selig, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Terry Madden are scheduled to appear before the full committee, and Madden's presence means there will be heat on baseball's union.
USADA and other anti-doping groups have been critical of baseball's steroid-testing program, saying it is filled with too many loopholes to be effective. Unlike other sports, baseball does not test its players out of season, and it does not ban androstenedione, a legal steroid "precursor" that becomes a steroid when ingested.
The committee, chaired by John McCain (R-Ariz.), will ask "whether such policies effectively deter athletes from using dangerous performance-enhancing substances," according to a statement from committee staff. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is a member of the committee.
Baseball's union has argued that its players have a right to privacy when they are not playing, and should not be prevented from taking andro while it is still a legal product.
Twin bills in the House and Senate would reclassify andro as a "Schedule III" drug, meaning it would be subject to the same controls as other anabolic steroids. If the bills become law, baseball will add andro to its banned list. The co-sponsor of the Senate version, Joseph Biden (D-Del.), is expected to attend the hearing to make a pitch for his bill.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/8118774.htm
