Time and again, we hear of news about an athlete testing positive for steroids or banned substances because of taking a dietary supplement that contains a steroid precursor ingredient. These questionable steroids supplements can be bought over-the-counter without a prescription, and anyone, from athletes to adolescents have access to these supplements.

Health and bodybuilding supplements are a $20-billion-a-year industry and continue to grow without much control by the government. All that is required of these supplements is to print a disclaimer on the label saying that “These supplements have no approved therapeutic claims” but clinical studies and thorough testing on them is not done before they are distributed in the market. This is why supplements that are found to have dubious substances are pulled out of the market only later when they are reported to be tainted with such substances and not before they are released to the public.

New supplements for muscle and strength building are introduced to the market almost every year and teenagers who wish to enhance their athletic ability can easily buy these products at any local drugstore, health store, or on the internet even without a prescription or consent from their parents. With aggressive advertising and marketing of these products, teenagers gobble up the information and try these supplements without knowing much about the contents and active ingredients—whether they have side-effects, complications, or are bad for the health. These supplements have less stringent labeling requirements under food and drug laws.

To protect the kids from harmful ingredients that these supplements may have, stricter regulation has to be implemented, if not for the general public at least for minors. In previous studies, it was found that twelve percent of boys and eight percent of girls have reported to using dietary supplements, steroids, or performance enhancing drugs on a weekly basis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of steroids among high school athletes has more than doubled in the past two decades not including those who use them with dietary supplements, which now appear to include steroid-like substances.

In an issue of Sports Illustrated, George Dohrmann and David Epstein reported that 25 percent of the 58 sports supplements available in the market were tested and found to have contained steroids or substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. A lot of those found to have dubious ingredients were workout boosters and weight-loss supplements.

The finger can be pointed at Congress rather than the Food and Drug Administration in this case. In 1994, congress passed legislation that practically allows self-regulation in the supplements industry. Essentially, supplements don’t have to be approved by the FDA. They only have the authority to remove the supplements from the drugstores if they are proved to be dangerous—usually after the harm have been caused. With little regulation, it is impossible to track all the ingredients of each new product and determine which one causes harm.

Lately, President Obama talked about revamping the FDA to address this issue, including giving the agency more authority in regulating the supplements industry. It’s about time that these unscrupulous manufacturers be held accountable for products that may bring harm to kids, as well as the public.

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