United States Senator John McCain still hasn’t given up his grandstanding over the use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports. Last month, he sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee and requested that they hold a hearing on human growth hormone (hGH) testing in the National Football League (NFL).
In August 2011, the NFL announced that it would start testing players for human growth hormone (hGH) after the players’ union passed a collective bargaining agreement that including provisions for the new blood test. At least, the new program on “anabolic steroids and related substances” was supposed to include blood testing for hGH.
McCain doesn’t feel that the National Football League Players’ Association has lived up to their end of the bargain.
“Since that time, and despite repeated public overtures by the NFL to initiate the testing program, the Players Association has refused to implement the agreement,” wrote Senator McCain in his letter. “Instead, the Players Association has questioned the validity of the testing.”
Several anti-doping experts have also questioned the validity of testing. Don Catlin, the director of Anti-Doping Research, Peter H. Sonksen, M.D., the creator of an alternative hGH test and Matt Chaney, author of the authoritative history of doping in American football “Spiral of Denial” have all questioned the shortcomings of the NFL’s hgh blood test.
But science isn’t that important to McCain. The scientific validity of the hGH is irrelevant to the Senator. He only wants to ensure that the public perception is one in which professional sports are steroid- and hGH-free.
“By publicly challenging the scientific validity of the widely-accepted WADA test, the NFLPA may reduce public confidence that our professional sports are being played cleanly,” Senator McCain’s letter explained.
Senator McCain has long been associated with government efforts to expose steroid use in sports. McCain has repeatedly threatened to introduce legislation that mandates minimum standards for steroid testing in professional sports.
He had previously threatened Major League Baseball with anti-doping legislation if MLB didn’t introduce a satisfactory anti-doping policy. At the time, Senator McCain was the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Sen. McCain’s scrutiny of steroids in baseball forced the MLB to implement a more comprehensive drug-testing policy. Will his grandstanding do the same for football?
Source:
McCain, J. (December 29, 2011). SENATOR McCAIN ASKS COMMERCE COMMITTEE TO HOLD HEARING ON HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE (hGH) TESTING IN NFL. Retrieved from http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=8a833ff0-99ae-e7f5-2705-c6cbe639bcc9
