SIDE EFFECTS OF ANABOLIC STEROIDS

Report #6381 12/10/94

Have you noticed that several Chinese athletes have been caught taking performance boosting male hormones?

When women from one country suddenly become the best in the world without their men also achieving the same degree of success, you can bet that their athletes are taking male hormones. If the success of the Chinese women was achieved through breakthroughs in training methods, their men should also have improved at the same rate. The Chinese suddenly achieved unbelievable dominance in world competition for women in swimming, long distance running and power sports such as weightlifting, but the men remained far behind the rest of the world in these events. Male hormones enlarge and strengthen muscles and clear extra fat from the body. When women take large doses of male hormones, their muscles become larger and stronger and they become better athletes.

If giving male hormones to athletes improves their performance and is safe, all athletes should be allowed to take them. However, the rules prohibiting the taking of male hormones are designed to save athletes' lives. Excessive doses of male hormones can cause liver cancer and hepatitis, conventional heart attacks and direct damage to the heart muscle itself(1)/ and an uncontrollable rage that can cause them to start fights and hurt themselves and people around them. A recent report shows that the male hormones can cause the prostate to enlarge and block the flow of urine.(2) They also make both men and women temporarily unable to have children. (3)

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News