The road to Connecticut’s Senate seat will not be an easy path to take for Senatoriable Linda McMahon. Others say that the profile of the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment is an impressive one. Her experience as the top executive of multi-million entertainment company is her best weapon against her detractors. McMahon believes that she deserves to be elected in the public office because of her qualifications. The story on how she was able to transform a small company to a publicly traded company is one of the campaign strategies of the McMahon camp.

In the recent interview of Andrew Rice of BusinessWeek, McMahon was not spared on the issue of steroids use of professional wrestlers particularly in WWE. Several years ago, her company became a subject of a federal investigation because of illegal prescription of anabolic steroids of their doctor. Vince McMahon was also implicated in a steroid case but they were acquitted of the charges. The rampant steroid use in the sport were blamed to the deaths of many professional wrestlers including Chris Benoits who killed his family and committed suicide afterwards. It was due to roid rage, a side effect of abusing steroids according to health experts.

Linda McMahon was asked about the effects of steroids on athletes. Rice cited that researches linked steroid use by athletes to liver, cardiac, musculoskeletal, and reproductive system damage, as well as psychiatric effects. Linda’s response was similar to her husbands view on the issue. Vince believes that there is no clear evidence that performance enhancing drugs or anabolic steroids were really dangerous.

“There’s some evidence sometimes of muscle disease, or cardiac disease, but it’s really hard to know because you didn’t know the condition of the performer’s heart, or whatever, prior to,” McMahon tells Andrew Rice of BusinessWeek. “So I still don’t think we know the long-term effects of steroids. They are continuing to study it more and more, but I don’t believe there are a lot of studies out there today that are conclusive.”

The Day also contacted Linda McMahon’s communications director, Ed Patru, to clarify the candidate’s position on the risks of steroids. Patru said that the Senatoriable is against illegal drug use. “She believes steroid use can have long-term negative physical and psychiatric impact on the body, and those negative impacts obviously are exacerbated with abuse,” said Patru.

He added that McMahon supports the continuing research on anabolic steroids which could help people understand further the full scope of the impact of long term use of steroids on the body. “As for the WWE, it has a very clearly defined policy on all illegal drugs, which I’m sure you’ve read,” Patru added.

The stand of Linda McMahon on steroid use will surely raise some concern especially on his critics. In the previous months, a memo was published on McMahon’s alleged intervention on a steroid investigation. Her credibility is being questioned whether she can really be a good leader once elected in the Senate.

For those football players guilty of using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, their career may end on June 14. The University of Waterloo, Canadian Interuniversity Sports and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport agreed to disclose to the public the results of the university wide steroid testing of football players next week. The result will surely make a great impact on the current policies of the university as well as the Canadian sports bodies.

Aside from the University of Waterloo, random steroid tests were also conducted on neighboring universities such as Wilfrid Laurier, the University of Guelph and McMaster University. This is in response to the insinuation that there were rampant doping in the Canadian football teams.

The CIS have already caught steroid users in the past but the numbers were not alarming. Since 1990, the CIS only reported 56 cases of positive steroid tests and 45 of them came from football. But the arrest of Nathan Zettler, UW player, for trafficking anabolic steroids prompted the CIS and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to conduct massive steroid testing in universities. This is the first case where a college football player was involved in the distribution of steroids and human growth hormone. Authorities are still investigating if these steroids were sold to his team mates and other football players in other universities.

Joe Surgenor, Waterloo Warriors defensive lineman, said in an interview that Zettler did not offer them any anabolic steroid. They were also surprised that Zettler was involved in the illegal distribution of steroids and human growth hormone. Surgenor is one of the players who admitted taking steroids when the UW conducted a mandatory test for all of its football players. He also alleged that the use of performance enhancing drugs could be rampant in Canadian football.

The coaches of other universities included in the random testing are optimistic that there will be no positive result on their team. The University of Guelph athletic director Tom Kendall said that he was absolutely confident that his team was drug-free. McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek also said that he will be shocked if the UW test result includes the leaders and star players of the Warriors.

Because of the incident, athletic directors of most universities decided to intensify their steroid education programs. According to Peter Baxter, Wilfrid Laurier University’s athletic director, they have to be vigilant in their own campuses. “We have to talk about what the health risks are with our own students. Let’s be proactive here,” he said.

Baxter commented on the current anti-doping program of the CIS. The CIS has a strict anti-steroid policy but due to lack of funding they could not implement large scale testing. “It’s not a perfect testing system. We should be asking, ‘How can we do it better?’” Baxter added.

In the estimate of Surgenor, there could be at least 7 to 13 players who may be into steroids and PED’s in college football. If that is true, it will be first time for the CIS to issue bulk suspensions.

As expected, Jose Canseco maintained his previous statement that he never saw Roger Clemens inject or use steroids. The grand jury will now weigh who is more credible between the two witnesses, Brian McNamee, former personal trainer of Clemens or Jose Canseco, Clemens former team mate.

Canseco, who admitted his steroid use and wrote books that details the rampant use of anabolic steroids in the league, played with Roger Clemens for many season. The prosecutors are expecting that he will be able to give information that will pin down the slugger. But it did not happen as Canseco defended his friend in the grand jury.

Here are some of his statements quoted by the media. “I had my suspicions back then of a lot of players because it was so rampant in the game of baseball,” said Canseco. “But if you ask me if I have any solid evidence, did I ever inject Roger Clemens or put him in contact or did he ever use steroids. Never.”

In McNamee’s account he was able to inject Clemens with human growth hormone at least 16 times. The trainer also detailed the steroid regimen of Clemens. Another allegation of McNamee was Clemens attended a party at Canseco’s house where the slugger asked him about performance enhancing drugs.

However, Canseco challenge McNamee for a polygraph test. He told the media that McNamee is a liar. “He’s an absolute liar. I challenge him to polygraph me. It’s his word against mine. Who are you going to believe?” added Canseco.

Meanwhile, The suspended Miami Dolphins player was not happy on how the NFL implements its policy on steroids. Nose Guard Jason Ferguson of Miami Dolphins said that his 8-game suspension was not because of steroid use but due to a medication he was taking for high blood pressure. He insists that he is not a cheater.

I an interview, Ferguson said that the NFL should be more transparent and explain to the player the cause of any sanction or suspension. “I just wish the league would be more black and white with the suspension. You let people know we’re suspended, then let them know what happened. Don’t have them speculating,” he said.

Suspending him because of a failed steroid test will automatically label him as a steroid user. “Tell them what it was. The way they put it out is I failed something on the steroid list. I never took any steroids, no pills, or injections. I have high blood pressure and took something that’s on the [banned] list,” Ferguson said. Although he admitted his mistake by not inquiring about the medication if it is in the banned list of the league.

Ferguson said that he was taking the medication for a long time already but when asked about the pill, he said he don’t remember its name. “But it ain’t a steroid because even the league will tell you my [urine] wasn’t diluted. It wasn’t nothing that’s going to make me stronger. It’s a blood pressure pill that makes you piss,” Ferguson added. The guard seems to forget that the league prohibits the use of diuretic drugs.

Cycling is one of the sports which is not spared from steroid controversies. The nature of the sport which needs endurance, strength and determination are just some of the reasons why many professional cyclists turn to performance enhancers. Just like in baseball and football, cycling has also a problem in curtailing the use of drugs aimed to improve an athletes’ performance.

Late last month, Floyd Landis made a public confession of his long-term use of steroids. But his revelations rocked the sports of cycling. He alleged that his former teammates and the 7-time world champion Lance Armstrong were involved in systematic doping like taking EPO and blood transfusions. The most intriguing part is his claim that some UCI officials were involved in a cover-up of a failed EPO test of Armstrong in 2002.

Landis admitted that he underwent a comprehensive training program that includes the use of anabolic steroids. He used the blood boosting EPO, testosterone, human growth hormone, a female fertility drug and insulin. Landis also received illegal blood transfusions.

The world of cycling will continue to make headlines this year as the recently concluded 2010 Cross Country Cycling returned 5 positive tests for banned substances. The title could also be at stake since the champion rider was included in the list of cyclists who failed the WADA sanctioned testing for steroids.

Miguel Angel Perez of Guatemala won this year’s race but with the positive steroid test he will likely forfeit his title to Wilmen Bravo of Venezuela. And the worst sanction that he may receive is removing his name in the Book of Champions. Other disciplinary action that could be imposed by the sport is banning him from cycling competitions which could last up to 5 years.

The organizer of the event, Belize Cycling Association (BCA) have not issued any comment on the allege failed test of its cyclists. However, news agencies were able to get information that there were 5 cyclists, 2 of them were Belizean and the other 3 were foreign participants. The locals failed for the prohibited substance marijuana while the 3 foreign cyclists failed for steroids. It was not yet disclosed what type of steroid that Perez got caught. Based on anti-doping rules, he can still ask for re-testing of his B sample if he is not satisfied of the first test result.

Perez refuse to comment on the incident but reports showed that he was already informed of the result. Emil Moreno, President of Belize Cycling Association did not give any statement to the media since the cyclists can still appeal the failed steroid test. The World Anti Doping Agency has a comprehensive list of banned substances which can be used to enhance performance. Professional sports organizations like the UCI follows WADA rules in implementing their anti-doping programs.

Everybody is still waiting for the results of the university wide steroid testing initiated by the University of Waterloo and the CIS or Canadian InterUniversity Sports. Other neighboring universities were also subjected to random steroid testing. The aim is to find out the extent of steroid use in college football but even if the result is not yet made public, a football player already admits that there could be rampant doping in their sport.

The involvement of the regulatory bodies such as the CIS and the Canada Center for Ethics and Sports is a sign that the problem of taking performance enhancers particularly in football is a serious problem already. It all started when Nathan Zettler of Waterloo Warriors and two other football players were arrested by the police for trafficking of anabolic steroids and other related charges.

When the entire University of Waterloo football team was required to have their players tested for anabolic steroids, one player made an uncommon act of telling his coach that steroid testing is not needed anymore because he already confessed taking one. Defensive lineman Joe Surgenor told his coach that he’s on steroids. Surgenor said that he was taking Winstrol, an anabolic steroids used to develop lean muscles.

He shared his story to the public because he wants to warn other athletes that the risk of using steroids is not worthy. Second, he believes that the incident in Waterloo could be also happening across the country. In the interview of the Globe and Mail, Surgenor said that it doesn’t feel good to be one of those identified using PED’s. He also revealed that there are other players who made similar steroid confession to avoid the doping test.

Moreover, Surgenor’s statement to the Globe and Mail could be the actual picture of college football in Canada. “To be perfectly honest, anyone who doesn’t think there are seven to 13 players on every team [using performance-enhancing drugs] in the CIS, you’re kidding yourself. There’s at least that number. I don’t think the CIS really wants to find out what’s going on. They don’t want to know the answer [to how many athletes are taking steroids],” Surgenor said.

The defensive lineman of Waterloo Warriors said that some of the players knew that there are steroid users in the team. However, they have denied that Zettler had supplied them with the drugs. “As far as I know, he wasn’t trying to sell to anyone on the team,” he said. Surgenor took the risk of taking anabolic steroids because his previous training regimen did not work. He even spent a few hundreds of dollar for a personal trainer. “I was taking Winstrol, which is essentially a fat cutter. I wanted to be leaner and stronger and I kept it quiet. It’s really unfortunate the prestige of the Waterloo name has been tainted by our actions. I’d like everyone to know it’s just not worth it,” Surgenor added.

The head of the CIS, Marg McGregor said that they are not treating the Waterloo incident as an isolated case. “We’re working with our other partners, such as the CFL, to have more deterrents in place,” she said. This time, they will be more rigid in implementing the anti-doping policies by testing athletes more often and any time. “We’re going to do a complete review of our educational programs. We’re committed to protecting the rights of athletes who compete cleanly,” McGregor added. Just recently, the CFL also announced that they already drafted a new steroid policy which is still subject to deliberation in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Surgenor was already sanctioned by the CIS and suspended for 2 years from the sport.

The last quarter of 2009 was the most challenging time for the supplements industry. It was not due to the declining sales but to the reports that many manufacturers sell products which are tainted with steroids. This is what the FDA is trying to stop and warned people about taking dietary supplements. Several distribution companies also cooperated with the agency by recalling their products which were found out containing traces of steroids or with undeclared steroid ingredients.

Congressional hearings were also conducted to know the extent of the problem in the supplements industry. Representatives from the FDA, DEA and the US Anti-Doping Agency were some of the resource person during the hearing. The supplements industry is also supportive of the effort of the lawmakers since it will help clean their industry with unscrupulous manufacturers.

After a long debate on the terms and the proposed scope of the legislation, Senator Orrin Hatch finally presented the new bill to make the supplements industry free from harmful steroids. It was co-sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. “This legislation puts common-sense steps in place to ensure that FDA notifies the DEA if it finds that the new dietary ingredient being evaluated contains an anabolic steroid,” Senator Hatch said.

The new bill was considered by USADA Chief Travis Tygart as a good initiative from the lawmakers. It will fill the gaps in the law and help protect the consumers said Tygart. The Hatch-Harkin bill is a consolidation of the suggestions and proposals from the different stakeholders in the supplements industry. The initiative of Senator John McCain for stricter laws in the industry was also considered.

The Hatch-Harkin Bill, which was presented to the Senate Special Committee on Aging last week, will strengthen the cooperation between the FDA and the DEA. It will require the FDA to inform the DEA of companies found to have products tainted with steroids. It was revealed in the senate hearing that the 2 agencies failed to provide each other with necessary information related to the tainted supplements issue. The bill will also urge the Food and Drug Administration to create and implement rules on determining or identifying new dietary ingredients. They are also mandated to conduct tests and determine the safety of these ingredients.

The lawmakers also proposed that dietary supplement companies should register their products with the FDA. Once this bill becomes a law, the FDA is expected to have more authority in recalling products which are found to contain anabolic steroids or steroid like substances.

Player’s association of major sports organizations like the MLB and NFL also support this bill. There are already many cases of professional athletes who failed a steroid test because of tainted dietary supplements. Most often, the supplements contain substances which are banned by professional leagues but these are not disclosed in the label.