Congress Dipping Hands into Major League Baseball Again

In March of 2005, Congress launched a full investigation into the use of steroids in baseball and the pressure put on the game through the government body is more than likely directly responsible for the current drug testing policy that Major League Baseball now employs. Although it did so because of public outcry over the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the game, many fans were equally outraged that Congress wasted its time investigating the issue to begin with, feeling that it was nothing more than political grandstanding. With the issues that had befallen the nation, people felt that Congress had more pressing issues to put their time to than drug use in professional sports.

So it should come no surprise to anyone that Congress, having made their impression on the game then, should spearhead another investigation into the use another substance by Major League Baseball players; smokeless tobacco.

According to an Associated Press report, Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Frank Pallone of New Jersey held a hearing on Wednesday April 14^th to call on Major League Baseball to ban the use of smokeless tobacco at the top level of the game. The Congressmen cited the impression Major League players make on young athletes and used the ban of the chewing tobacco at the minor league level in 1993 as an example that a ban would work.

But is this baseball's problem to address?

There is no ban on smokeless tobacco in public places. There is no ban on smokeless tobacco in the workplace. So aside from serving as role models to the youth of America, why should Major League Players be asked by a law writing body to give up a luxury that no other citizen in the country is required to?

The answer is they shouldn't. At least not until the law requires them to do so.

The fact of the matter is the problem reaches further than the game of baseball, much like the usage of steroids before it. But unlike the steroid epidemic, where the drug was already illegal to possess or use, the only laws inhibiting smokeless tobacco are those governing the age of the purchaser. If Congress sees fit to ask that the substances stay out of the public eye, especially those of children, then they should put into legislation a law similar to that for cigarettes and cigars, banning the use of the substance in public buildings, near schools, etc. The surgeon general has been calling for a ban on all tobacco products since 2003, but it takes until 2010 to look into the situation, and in Major League Baseball of all places?

Congress, as a governing body, was not created to make suggestions to private businesses or groups. Instead, as elected officials, they were charged with protecting the interest and health of the constituents that put them into office in the first place. Grabbing a soap box and casting the evil eye on professional sports to solve the problem isn't going to get the job done. If Representative Waxman wants results, then he needs to go after the industry that puts the product on the shelves, not the users who are doing so under the laws that allow it.

Then again, Major League Baseball doesn't employ a team of lobbyists to fight such a ban. At the end of the day, should they even need to?

Sources:

Banned Substances In Baseball, Wikipedia.com

Congress Urges Baseball To Ban Smokeless Tobacco, Yahoo.com

Surgeon General Favors Tobacco Ban, WashingtonPost.com