Steroid Testing In Major League Baseball

Is the new policy on steroid testing in Major League Baseball morally justified? Taking into account the league’s rules and what is the greatest good for fans and the game itself, my answer is yes…the new policy on steroid testing in Major League Baseball is morally justified.

Major League Baseball has many different rules. Rule 21, Misconduct, consist of seven paragraphs. Paragraph (f) OTHER MISCONDUCT reads “Nothing herein contained shall be construed as exclusively defining or otherwise limiting acts, transactions, practices

or conduct not to be in the best interests of Baseball; and any and all other acts, transactions, practices or conduct not to be in the best interests of Baseball are prohibited and shall be subject to such penalties, including permanent ineligibility, as the facts in the particular case may warrant.” The use of steroids is a practice or conduct that is not in the best interest of baseball.

The illicit use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players in Major League Baseball is a problem that must be stopped, for a number of reasons. Among those reasons:

The significant health risks to those who use them. Studies have found a strong link between steroid abuse and serious adverse psychiatric symptoms, including mania, hypomania, and severe depression. Steroid users also appear to be at higher risk of suicide. A connection is suspected between steroid abuse and an enlarged heart leading to heart attacks in young and middle-aged bodybuilders. There also appears to be a connection between steroid use and an increase risk of tendon tears in athletes.

The public perception that players in Major League Baseball use these substances contributes to their use by young athletes, who in turn cause themselves great physical harm. Whether major league baseball players like it or not, young people model their behavior after them. If famous athletes send a message that the use of performance enhancing drugs is acceptable, more young athletes will use these substances as they emulate these prominent figures.

Illegal drug use poses practical threats to the integrity of the game, not just a moral dilemma. Users of these substances act in secret, in violation of federal law and baseball policy. The problem of performance enhancing substance use in baseball has shaken the faith of many baseball fans in the integrity and fairness of the game.

Users are placed in a position of vulnerability to drug dealers who might use their access and knowledge of violations to their own advantage. In the sports world, this connection will just as inevitably involve gambling. The knowledge that a player uses drugs is a fact which illegal gamblers clearly want to know.

Steroid use is also unfair to the majority of players who do not use them. �Clean' athletes face three choices: (1) compete without performance-enhancing substances, knowing that they may lose to competitors with fewer scruples; (2) abandon their quest because they are unwilling to use performance-enhancing substances to achieve a decisive competitive advantage; or (3) use performance-enhancing substances to level the playing field. Many players believe it is grossly unfair that some players use performance enhancing substances to gain an advantage.

There is a widespread misconception that the use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances, such as human growth hormone, was not prohibited in Major League Baseball before the inclusion of the