Battered MLB goes on offense in steroid flap

Major League Baseball (MLB), battered by bad press over the steroids controversy and preparing for this week’s congressional testimony by Roger Clemens and other baseball stars, is launching a lobbying campaign to severely restrict the sale of performance-enhancing drugs.

Critics say the campaign is designed to shift attention from hearings featuring testimony by current and former players to MLB’s efforts to portray itself as taking a hard line on an issue many say it ignored for too long.

{mosads}“The baseball commissioner is doing everything he can to keep performance-enhancing drugs out of baseball,” said Lucy Calautti, the head of government relations for MLB at Baker Hostetler. “For us, it is not just about baseball. It’s also about kids.”

The effort could also help baseball defend itself from members of Congress who want MLB to do more testing of its own players. For example, MLB is resisting calls that it take urine samples from baseball players today that might later be tested for human growth hormone (HGH), a substance Clemens is accused of using that is difficult to test for. Clemens has vigorously denied that he used HGH.

MLB’s lobbyists, however, will face resistance from supplement manufacturers. They argue MLB is just trying to shift the spotlight from itself by pushing for four pieces of legislation that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig first voiced support for last month. The four bills could restrict the sales of HGH and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which fights the effects of aging and helps strengthen the body’s immune system.

“I think baseball is trying to shift the burden,” said David Seckman, executive director and chief executive officer of the Natural Products Association (NPA). “The focus should be on personal responsibility, not making us a scapegoat.”

NPA takes particular umbrage with a bill, backed by MLB and sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), that would ban the sale of DHEA to minors.

Seckman argues the restriction would likely lead stores only to sell DHEA behind the counter, which would depress its average sales of $55 million per year. Many nutrition stores could stop selling the supplement altogether due to the restrictions in Grassley’s bill, Seckman said.

Seckman’s group argued that DHEA is used by adults to help with improving immunity and fighting the effects of aging. Grassley’s office, however, charged that the makers of DHEA have targeted minors in their marketing.

“While the opponents may say that there is no widespread use among minors, we’ve seen websites specifically marketing DHEA to minors,” said Beth Pellett Levine, Grassley’s spokeswoman.

While Grassley agrees that some adults use the drug for legitimate health reasons, he argues that sales to minors must be prohibited because studies show high doses of DHEA over time can lead to cancer and liver damage, according to Pellett Levine.

Seckman said targeting the product would boil down to “an unnecessary restriction on a safe product.”

MLB, however, believes DHEA can have harmful effects. “It is our feeling in Major League Baseball that if Congress wants to do a thorough job of getting rid of performance-enhancing drugs, DHEA needs to be a part of that effort,” Calautti said.

Calautti’s team has already contacted lawmakers who have sponsored the legislation to express the league’s support. In addition, league lobbyists are planning to write letters to and hold meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to garner backing for the bills.

Meanwhile, MLB has also supported legislation that would designate HGH a Schedule III drug — essentially making it illegal to have without a prescription. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have sponsored bills to do this.

Lynch, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he appreciated Selig’s testimony last month in favor of his bill. At the same time, he called for MLB to tighten its own policies on HGH by taking urine samples from players today, in order to test in the future. He argues this will lower the use of HGH by players.

“Once you start testing for something, there will be a drop-off. It will be a deterrent effect,” Lynch said.

Baseball opposes the proposal. “We need to know more about the scientific validity of freezing urine samples for long periods of time,” Calautti said.

Clemens and other players named in the report on performance-enhancing drugs by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) will testify Wednesday at a House Oversight panel hearing.