The Ethical Use Of Anabolic Steroids In Sports

They’re among the world’s most controversial drugs. Not Heroin, Ganja, Coke or Crystal Meth, but Anabolic Steroids. Steroids are medical treatments that come in two varieties: Anabolic Steroids and Corticosteroids. These are both synthetic versions of hormones produced naturally in the body but they perform two completely different tasks. Corticosteroids are used by doctors to decrease inflammation. Anabolic Steroids are the familiar term for the synthetic version of the male sex hormone testosterone. Its technical name although, is Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids (AAS). “Anabolic referring to muscle-building and Androgenic referred to increased male sexual characteristics,” defined by the National

Steroids are a hot topic of debate and controversy in the world of athletes and sports. Steroids fall under the umbrella of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and are a dark cloud that have been hovering over the sports world for a long time. In the world today, steroids are the most relevant in major league baseball. Many baseball players, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Mark McGwire, just to name a few, have ruined their reputations because of steroids. There are repercussions for PED use in major league baseball, which have cut down on the substance abuse by players but have nowhere near eliminated the problem.

President George W. Bush says “Steroids are dangerous in sports and steroids send the wrong message: There are shortcuts to accomplishments and performance is more important than character.”

Anabolic steroids are taken by tablet, injection, and also by pads on the skin. Even with the possible benefits that steroids could possibly have there are many many more dangers. Some of these include deep depression, aggression, and bad nervousness. Some physical dangers include high blood pressure, liver disorders, and even going bald. The athlete that makes the poor decision to use steroids, also faces the danger of getting caught and being suspended or even banned from the professional sport of which they

These days it seems as society is constantly being faced with Ethical Dilemmas. Whether it is normal everyday citizens, actors, business executives, and even athletes. The way that every person deal with ethical dilemmas is by relying on their worldview. The world of professional sports is a very tough and competitive place. It is full of top level athletes that are masters in their respective sports and the struggle that they all face is to be better than everyone else. With all these athletes working hard and looking for new ways to better themselves, some take the easy way over the right way. In this paper, the ethical dilemma of performance enhancing drugs being used in sports will be addressed

Since the use of steroids has become a trend among athletes, the number of deaths among them has risen. A lot of these deaths are due to suicides and violent behavior as a result of the effect of these anabolic androgenic steroids on mood. A number of recent, well-publicized deaths of American football players have drawn attention to the potential dangers of sports supplements and the raised important public health concerns about the unrestricted availability of these products that are exempt from U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation (Haller, 2002). Performance enhancing drugs are not only dangerous and damaging; they are potentially deadly. Between 1985 and 1995, at least 121 US athletes collapsed and died during or directly after a training session or game; most often because they had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or heart malformations (Maron, 1996). Most of the athletes that have collapsed and died during or directly after training session or game tested positive for some type of performance enhancing drug. From case reports, the incidence of life-threatening effects appears to be low, but serious adverse effects may be under-recognized or under-reported. Data from animal studies seem to support this possibility. One study found that exposing male

Steroids not only affect the body but also the mind too. It is proven that when an athlete takes steroids they tend to be more of an aggressive person in society’s eyes. The advantage of having an aggressive behavior is that the abuser is more focused and trains more intensely. The bad part about taking steroids is that the person becomes easily irritated and impatient. Even after an athlete stops using steroids they seem to develop depression because they experience withdraw symptoms. It is against federal law to use steroids without a prescription. Professional athletes usually do not think about how much trouble steroids can give them. In 1990, President George W. Bush signed a bill to put steroids in the category of methamphetamines, opium and morphine. If someone would get caught using steroids they could be punished up to one year in prison, a twenty thousand dollar fine, and a year of drug classes (New Law…).

Abstract:  With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent.  The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change.  No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent.  Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids.

Ethical dilemmas often face a challenge on deciding what the right action to take is, and therefore are quite complex. Nevertheless, there are situations in which majority of individuals feel there is a clear acceptable choice. Specifically, the use of performance enhancing drugs through the public eye, are often not sanctioned as acceptable. With “the number of professional athletes using steroids […] estimated to be fewer than 1%” (Petersen & Kristensen, 2009). Throughout this paper the scenario regarding performance enhancing drugs will be analyzed specifically focusing on the ethical dilemma, the Christian core beliefs, how they relate to this situation, the resolution, evaluation, and comparison to other options.

The desire to compete — and win — is as old as history itself. From the beginnings of sport, athletes have sought out foods and potions to turn their bodies into winning machines. As early as 776 BCE, the very first Olympic games, there are records of attempts to increase testosterone levels (“Steroid Abuse in Sports”). Ancient Greek wrestlers ate vast amounts of meat to gain muscle mass, and Norse “Berserker” warriors took hallucinogenic mushrooms before battle. The first competitive athletes to be charged for doping, however, were swimmers in 1860s Amsterdam. Doping of all kinds, from caffeine to cocaine to anabolics quickly spread to other sports (“Anabolic Steroids, a Brief History”).

Doping in sports has caused a lot of controversy throughout the years in the sports world from youth sports to the professionals. The World Anti-Doping Agency does their best to catch all the drug users but falls short with some people. This causes for an “unfair” advantage and goes against the true value of sport. It can make these players stronger and more athletic which causes more excitement for the fans to watch, more revenue for teams, and growing popularity. Using performance-enhancing drugs is banned in almost every sport, but with the allowed use of them could bring to the players and the sports teams themselves, could outweigh the negative effects of them being used in sports.

When athletes begin to take these drugs they begin to hurt there bodies more and more every time they do steroids. Vance Golke, a athletic trainer at a local sports medicine facility, stated in an interview that, “athletes today don’t know what trouble they could be putting themselves in when they begin to take enhancements to better themselves. They (the athletes) don’t know what they could be doing to there internal organs and to their lives.” According to the National institute on drug abuse, steroids can have disastrous health effects “that are life threatening, such as heart attacks and liver cancer. Most are reversible if the abuser stops taking the drugs, but some are permanent, such as voice deepening in females. “These are just a few small consequences that can happen if athletes continue to take these types of drugs. Athletes don’t always know what they maybe getting into rule wise either when they begin doing these things. Most coaches don’t care enough to help their players get away with these illegal drugs in most cases. There are many different ways they can help them but, the best way most would agree on

Doping has widely become known as the use of banned substances and practices by sports personnel particularly athletes in an attempt to improve sporting performances. No sensible fan of sport today denies the prevalence of drugs in virtually every major sport, yet none would argue they can ever be eliminated completely. Money alone would seem to guarantee that much. High profile athletes today are competing for high stakes, not just millions, but dozens of millions. The fear of losing everything career, opportunity, contracts, name, fame, and money is pushing more sportsmen all over the world to use performance enhancing drugs, mainly

Has society become more interested in whether the pitcher on the mound has taken something a little stronger than his vitamins before playing the game than the children that are suffering from lack of care or health benefits? The game of baseball, like any other high price sporting event, has recently been plagued with a form of legal but unacceptable drug habit. The leaders of our country have found it necessary to spend an overabundance of time and effort to correct this type of physical enhancement process. The practice of using steroids has been cited as far back as 1995. All of the major sports leagues and the Olympic committees have had policies of drug testing for over two decades and yet

“Some athletes take a form of steroids — known as anabolic-androgen steroids or just anabolic steroids — to increase their muscle mass and strength. The main anabolic steroid hormone produced by your body is testosterone. Testosterone has many risks some of them are Anabolic effects promote muscle building. Androgenic effects male traits, such as facial hair and a deeper voice. Men get some major risks from taking this type of drug like some are prominent breasts Baldness, Shrunken testicles, Infertility, and Impotence.”(Mayo Clinic)