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USADA Calls for Uniform Drug Testing

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

WASHINGTON - Insufficient drug testing in some of America's premier pro sports leagues has led to a world perception that U.S. athletes routinely use illegal performance-enhancing substances, Congress was told Tuesday.

Terry Madden, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, an independent organization that monitors America's Olympic athletes, said some countries balk at signing anti-doping codes because they believe professional athletes in the United States are among the worst violators.

"The perception out there is that we're not a clean country," Madden said. The National Football League has solid testing, he said, but baseball, basketball and hockey "need to raise their programs."

Madden and Bill Martin, former head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, told the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control that uniform standards for testing amateur and pro athletes are needed.

Such standards would provide "consistent messages to athletes and would greatly simplify enforcement," said Martin, athletic director of the University of Michigan. The Olympics, he said, have a more exhaustive list of banned substances than the NCAA.

The testimony came as four athletes accused by Madden's organization of using steroids were eliminated at the Olympic track and field trials. Alvin Harrison, Tim Montgomery and Chryste Gaines all failed to qualify in their events, while Michelle Collins pulled out of the women's 400, citing a hamstring injury. They have denied the doping allegations and hearings are pending.

The allegations were based on evidence from the investigation of California's Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO). The lab's owner has pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to distribute illegal performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes.

Martin and Madden testified for a Senate bill that would ban over-the-counter sales of steroid precursors, which act like steroids in the human body. They include androstenedione, which Mark McGwire used in 1998 when he hit a then-record 70 home runs.

The House voted 408-3 last month for a similar bill.

The Food and Drug Administration banned androstenedione sales April 12, but Joseph Rannazzisi of the Drug Enforcement Administration said the Senate bill enables the government to prosecute sellers.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he found at least 20 sites selling illegal steroids on eBay.

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The bill numbers are H.R. 3866 and S. 2195.

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