Anabolic steroids have been involved in the world of sports for quite some time. Their scandalous presence has brought many debates about whether or not they should be allowed. There has been countless amounts of research to find out what they do to your body, if they are safe and if they are healthy. Steroids have been shown to bring unhealthy side effects and various health risks. Not to mention, they give unfair advantages and are considered cheating. Steroids do not belong in the sports community. Steroids are unfair, unhealthy, unjust, and should not be allowed or accepted in sports. First off, anabolic steroids are very unfair to the athletes who do what is right and do not use them. Steroids give the user many advantages that a normal …show more content…
Football star Lyle Alzado died at the age of 42 from a brain disease that Alzado admitted was caused by his steroid use” (Root, 2011). If the risk of death is not enough to scare you then not much will. Steroids are not worth the risk. Side effects for men include: develop breasts, shrunken testicles, infertility, decreased sperm count, impotent. Side effects for women include: face and body hair, deep voice, menstrual irregularities, reduced breast size, masculinized female fetus. Side effects for both men and women include: acne, oily scalp/skin, yellow skin, baldness, tendon rupture, heart attacks, enlarged heart, risk of liver disease and liver cancer, bad cholesterol, mood swings, rage, delusions (DeNoon, 2005). The long list of side effects outweighs the list of benefits by a long shot. Steroids are only legal if prescribed by a doctor. People who doctors prescribe anabolic steroids to: “Requires bone marrow stimulation or prevention of bone loss, Needs artificial induction of male puberty, Needs appetite stimulation and preservation of muscle mass due to wasting conditions such as AIDS or cancer, Decides to undergo gender reassignment procedures” (Hirby). It is sometimes healthy to take steroids when a doctor prescribes it, because steroids are not always bad. If steroids are used for the right reasons they can be beneficial, but if not they are very …show more content…
If something is against the rules than it should not even be considered to be allowed. Legal prosecution for steroid use is, one to five years in prison, and $1,000 to $250,000 fines (DeNoon, 2005). It is a crime to use steroids and against the law which makes it unjust. There are more consequences than just the health risks. Steroids has posed a big problem in football because of testing, other sports should be strict on testing too (Dillingham, 2004). Steroid use is a problem in sports and testing needs to be more strict in order to do away with it. Doing steroids is not consciously right and should not be allowed in
Many athletes use steroids to become stronger and improve their ability to play their sport. Certain players believe there is nothing wrong with using steroids. Athletes who excel greatly would normally be chosen to be in the Hall of Fame, but if using steroids, they should not be allowed. Steroids have many effects on people. Baseball players are big influences on children and teenagers, which could cause even more steroid use because of major league baseball players.
One way steroids affect players is the effect on the mind and mental health of users. When baseball players take steroids, they put their bodies at risk. The risks include psychiatric symptoms such as bipolar disorder (Mitchell 55). Studies have shown that if baseball players get involved with steroids, there is strong chance they will experience symptoms like bipolar disorder or severe depression. Steroids also affect the cardiovascular system. They can cause heart attacks and increased or decreased cholesterol levels, and also cause the heart to become enlarged (Mitchell 55). The cardiovascular system faces tragic effects when people decide to use steroids. The liver is affected by steroids also, as the liver can become impaired, become cancerous, and thus cause skin to yellow (Mitchell 55). The f...
history of sports, the Black Sox scandal is the most infamous in all of sports history. The Pete Rose
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
Steroids are ruining sports in the United States, and they are also going to ruin future athletes if the United States does not put a stop to it. Many young athletes in the United States are taking performance enhancing drugs because they see that professional athletes are doing it and getting results. These teenagers are using steroids because they want to look muscular and fit, but they are not aware of the negative effects steroids have on their bodies. Young athletes do not know that they are not only risking their careers but also their bodies. Steroids may make a person look muscular and fit, but at the same time, it is ruining their heart. Steroids also cause people to act differently and do foolish things like using other drugs. Parents can prevent steroid use by teaching their children about it at a young age and staying involved in their children’s sport lives. Steroids have ruined professional careers. They ruined Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds’ careers and almost ruined Alex Rodriguez’s career. Professional athletes use steroids to improve their performance which is cheating. The game is not fair if someone is performing better by using drugs, and everybody should be performing with what they got. There are many different ways to achieve what they want in fair and healthier way. Many high school athletes are using steroids in the United States. They are not doing it under a doctor’s supervision; therefore, they are ruining their bodies without them knowing. Many of these athletes are looking at the outcome only and not what there are doing to their bodies in addition to getting stronger, muscular, and fit. All governing sport bodies in the United States need to take steroid testing seriously and give at...
Steroids are used daily in America in body building, medicine, and food production. There are three main types of steroids, Corticosteroids, Anabolic steroids, and hormone steroids. Corticosteroids are the kind of steroids doctors prescribe to patients when they are sick or have some kind of medical issue. These steroids reduce overactive immune responses and reduce swelling. Anabolic steroids are used for building muscle. They also contain a lot of testosterone. Testosterone is naturally produced by one's body but too much can cause a vast variety of problems. Hormone steroids are the steroids people put in animals (DeNoon).
Anabolic steroids are a group of muscle building chemicals, which are synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone. Developed in the 1930’s, they were prescribed to aid in muscle tissue repair by those who had undergone surgery or had degenerative diseases. Now the patients do not only use them but also athletes. Starting in the 1940’s steroids were introduced into sports. Steroids were one of the main reasons that Russia’s 1952 Olympic weightlifting team came out with pile of medals. With these results other nations thought their competitors should have the same advantage, and the use of steroids spread like wildfire.(NIDA pg 2) But now steroids are illegal to use if not prescribed by a physician, and have been banned by nearly all-athletic organizations, both professional and amateur.
While the effects of steroids can seem desirable at first, there are serious side effects. Excessive use can cause a harmful imbalance in the body's normal hormonal balance and body chemistry. Heart attacks, water retention leading to high blood pressure and stroke, and liver and kidney tumors all are possible. Young people may develop and a halting of bone growth. Males may experience shrinking testicles, falling sperm counts, and enlarged prostates. Women frequently show signs of masculinity and may be at higher risk for certain types of and the possibility of birth defects in their children. The psychological effects of steroid use are also alarming: drastic mood swings, inability to sleep, and feelings of hostility. Steroids may also be psychologically addictive. Once started, users, particularly athletes, enjoy the physical "benefits" of increased size, strength, and endurance so much that they are reluctant to stop even when told about the risks. Major athletic competitions, including the Olympics, routinely screen athletes to prevent steroid use.
Some of the ill effects of the drugs are damage to the kidneys and liver. A person can also alter the balance of the natural hormones. This can cause detrimental affects to the body. The effects of you natural hormones being out of balance can last several years after being off the drugs. Some male user form breasts due to the use of steroids. Because of the increase in testosterone, steroids can cause serious acne problems. When used by teens is can cause stunted growth. Other side effects include genital changes, water retention, yellow eyes, coronary artery disease, ligament injuries, high blood pressure, changes in cholesterol levels, sterility and liver disease. The list goes on and on. Women that use steroids run the risk of male pattern baldness. Some effects of steroids are even worse. Some people fall into comas after injecting the drugs, some may even die from the injections (Kalawalski 13-15).
Steroids, should they be allowed in sports? They should not be allowed in sports because research shows that steroids are bad for health. An example of why they’re bad is Tommy Simpson died from excessive amphetamines when taking them during the 13th stage of the Tour De France (Abuse). The cyclist, whose motto was allegedly "If it takes ten to kill you, take nine and win," took Steroids and worked hard until his body shut down (historical).
Steroids can seem harmless to the uninformed user but they actually have harmful side effects. According to the article “News examines relationship between steroids and heart-related deaths,” published by New York Daily News, “The study (presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2006) shows that deaths jumped from 476 from in 1980-1992 to 987 from in 1993-2005. Overall, 1,463 young athletes died between 1980 and 2005”(NY Daily News). This is a terrifying statistic and will only continue to rise.
In conclusion, professional sports are completely justified banning steroid use among athletes. With so many negative side effects and danger associated with steroid use and abuse its painfully obvious how horrible steroids are. There is no reason to allow steroids in pro sports now or ever. Keeping professional sports professional is worth banning a variety of substances. Athletes that routinely poison themselves with steroids can be called many names but professional is not on of
With all the lights and cameras, of course, athletes want more attention than the others and for them steroids is the answer. Steroids not only affect your body physically, but your brain emotionally and that’s why there is a higher risk than thought when it comes to the decision to use steroids or not. For your body, you are essentially quickening its deterioration and actually weakening it while you are trying to strengthen it. It’s a domino effect of future health problems. From
Even though steroids are known as a somewhat dangerous substance, they are legal to have and to consume. There has not been a study that proves such possible side effects are linked to medical problems of steroid users (Rogak, 89). There are those who have pointed out several cases where someone has died and an autopsy has shown that the person was using steroids, but they claim this does not mean that it is a deadly drug as some medical professionals have stated (97). Some advocates of steroids believe that because steroids are legal, and because it is the decision of the user to take the drug, steroids are not causing a problem in society. Alcohol and cigarettes are consumed by millions of people, causing a lot of deteriorating effects on their bodies, but there has never been a ban on these items because of the dangers that they can cause. Why should steroids be different? Some people say that the wide spread use of steroids among athletes is forcing the young athletes to use steroids, even though it is against their standards.
Athletes use steroids but don 't understand the negative consequences of using them, the leagues are trying to solve steroid use but there failing. Steroids are meant to make you stronger but they also have side effects that will change your behavior and could change other physical and mental attributes. Thats not the only consequence they can face, they can get in trouble with the professional league they play for.