Speaker Nancy Pelosi Weighs in on Mitchell Report on Steroid Use in Baseball

On Thursday, Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, issued a statement concerning former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, whose inquiry found ubiquitous use of steroids and other illegal substances by players in baseball's major leagues.

"The Mitchell Report tells a troubling story of how many of our children's heroes cheated the game of baseball...Senator Mitchell made clear that blame for baseball's steroids era rests not just with those on the field. Each player who used an illegal, performance-enhancing substance bears personal responsibility for his actions, but the scope of cheating within baseball could not have grown and continued without...complicity," stated Pelosi.

Four years ago, the National League's 1996 Most Valuable Player, Ken Caminiti, told Sports Illustrated that approximately 50% of all major league baseball players use steroids to one degree or another, and even joke among themselves about it.

However, critics of Congress' investigations into the matter of steroid use by baseball players have scathing words for the legislative branch of government. They say that the true concern over steroids among athletes has never been "unfairness", because all athletes in all sports at all times have sought and will always continue to seek a competitive edge-be it a mystical all-chicken diet during the season, or more time spent in the weight room, or more miles jogged in training, or an herbal supplement.

Instead, the concern that was raised about steroids had to do with their destructive long-term side effects on a user's health. And according to the critics, those health concerns, while legitimate, have been greatly exaggerated.

They assert that Congress' real hue and cry over steroids use has to do with a knee-jerk, holier-than-thou reaction to the use of any non-prescription drug of any kind, simply for the sake of the fact that it is a drug.

Of the 600-plus steroids available for use, the one that is taken by athletes, including female athletes, most of the time is testosterone. This is because testosterone burns fat and builds muscle tissue, and can greatly enhance the results of a strength-training workout.

However, steroids do not have the power to make an athlete any more "talented" than he already was. Taking steroids without training and working out will result in poor performance.

What's more, assert the critics, steroids are actually used by medical practitioners and appear in such products as sinus congestion nasal spray. Doctors do not all agree on how harmful steroids are in the long run, but most do agree that cessation from taking them can usually allow their negative side effects to be reversed.

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