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Performance-enhancing drugs are a topic in todays society which is currently under hot debate. Performance-enhancing drugs are substances which are used to stimulate certain areas of the body to make an athlete excel in a certain event. The most common form of performance-enhancing drugs are called steroids. According to Hank Newer in his book Steroids, steroids are...
compounds that are necessary for the well-being of many living creatures, including human beings. These include sex hormones, bile acids, and cholesterol (15). Steroids are used in the medical field to treat many ailments, and this use is not the use which is currently under controversy. The medical reasons are to treat anemia, burns, asthma, anorexia, intestinal disorders, and much more (Newer 15).
These types of steroids are called cortical steroids. But the other use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs is that they are used by athletes who wish to gain an unfair advantage over their competitors, or use them to keep up with the competition since so many athletes are using these types of drugs. These drugs are taken in a variety of ways. The two most common ways are to be taken orally in pill form, or injected into the body with a needle.
Just a few of these performance-enhancing drugs are Never, Deca-Durabolin, Avatar, Stanzolol, Dianabol, and Anadrol- 50 (Newer 17). These drugs are much more dangerous than the legal performance-enhancing drugs because the athletes take much, much more than the recommended doses that would be prescribed by a doctor. They feel that the more pills or injections they take, the stronger, faster, and better they will be when competing, but this Performance-enhancing drugs are relatively unstudied today. There are not many known fact about performance-enhancing drugs and steroids.
But, there is some evidence that shows some of these substances may be dangerous to ones health. Although there is yet to be certain and definite proof that performance-enhancing drugs and steroids may be harmful, there have been some studies which indicate that they can be dangerous. These studies have shown that steroids may have been the reason or a major factor which caused liver damage, cardiomyopathy (a worn out heart), jaundice, pelisses hepatic (blood-filled cysts in the liver), and adverse affects on both the cardiovascular system and on the reproductive system (Meer 69). These products have also been linked to causing some types of cancer. Because of these hazards, many performance-enhancing drugs have been banned in certain national and international sports, such as the NFL, NBA, and the Olympics. This does not mean that athletes participating in these sports do not take them, Athletics is the major area in which performance-enhancing drugs are used.
Although some people use them just to try to make themselves look bigger and better, most people use them to help them to either keep up with competition in athletic events, or use them to beat the competition by an unfair advantage, usually because they want to achieve fame or want to win some sort of cash reward. Unfortunately, it is not just the major athletes in pro sports and in the Olympics who use these drugs. Performance-enhancing drugs are used in all levels of competition today, whether it be in the Olympics, in the pros, in colleges, or even in high schools. Athletes see other people taking these drugs and winning events and breaking records, and they want to do the same.
Also, many of these athletes are misinformed about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. But on the other hand, many other athletes are aware of the consequences and dangers, yet they are stubborn and take them anyway. The Olympics have long been known for having athletes who take steroids. For years now, certain countries such as the former nation of East Germany and the former U. S. S.
R, as well as China, have been known to, or at least it has been highly suspected, that they contained a numerous amount of athletes who have taken performance-enhancing drugs leading up to and during Olympic competition. Currently, there is an investigation involving the coaches and athletes from East Germany who competed in the 1976 Olympics. As Don Kardong reports in Runners World: A German investigator -- searching for evidence for a criminal trial of four coaches and two doctors accused of giving steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to unsuspecting athletes -- had discovered 10 volumes of secret Stasi police files documenting the East German doping program. Each athlete was coded by number, and among them was # 62.
Waldemar Cierpinski was a runner who won the marathon race in the 1976 Olympics and thus pushed Don Kardong to come in fourth place instead of third, making him miss his chance at fame and fortune, and of course that coveted bronze medal. Should the IOC (International Olympic Committee) take the gold medal away from Cierpinski and move the second, third, and fourth place finishers up one spot? Will Kardong finally have the feeling of getting that medal? Is it too little too late for him? How can the IOC possibly compensate for the years of disappointment that the fourth, third, and second place finishers felt?
These questions are what the IOC have to try to find the answers to. They also have to decide how they are going to handle similar situations which are bound to occur in the future. Another example of cheating in the Olympics by taking banned substances is Canadian Ben Johnson. He was disqualified from the 1988 Olympics after winning the gold in the 100 meter dash because he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs which were illegal to use. This eventually ruined his great career, his reputation, and his The sad thing about the Olympics is that the number of people caught using performance-enhancing drugs does not even come close to the number of people who actually use them. Because doctors and IOC officials know very little about the many types of performance-enhancing drugs and steroids, they have yet to come up with good ways of detecting them.
According to Michael Bamberger and Don Yaeger of Sports Illustrated, the only ways the IOC can test right now is to use urine tests, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, and a high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS), but there are many ways to bypass all three of these tests (61). This is because the pushers of these drugs are smarter than both the people who run the drug tests, and the drug tests themselves. They know how to get past these systems, and that is why performance-enhancing drugs are so prevalent in todays society. First of all, even if some athletes were tested positive by the HRMS, the IOC is very reluctant to act because the HRMS is relatively untested and they are fearful of lawsuits. Second of all, athletes can stop using some performance-enhancing drugs a short time before a meet, sometimes as little as ten days, in order that the athlete will still be stronger and better, but also will pass the drug tests because the chemicals will be out of his / her system. Also, Bamberger and Yaeger note that, The sophisticated athlete who wants to take drugs has switched to things we cant test for...
To be caught is not easy; it only happens, says Emil Vrij man, director of the Netherlands doping control center, when an athlete is either incredibly sloppy, incredibly stupid, or both (62). Another way to deceive drug tests is to use special performance-enhancing drugs which are made especially for one person to do one specific duty. These drugs do not have the same chemical parts as the ones the IOC tests for, and therefore these athletes are not usually caught. But, these drugs are extremely expensive, sometimes costing the athletes up to $ 1, 500 a month (Bamberger and Yaeger 64). There are many side affects which can result from the use of performance-enhancing drugs and steroids. For men, some of these side affects can include shrinkage of the testicles, a reduced sperm count, baldness, the development of breasts, depression, extreme aggression, impotence, tumors, cancer, and death.
With all these adverse side affects, why would athletes continue to...
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Research essay sample on Performance Enhancing Drugs Number Of People
