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Steroid health dangers a “foul ball”

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CARLE PLACE, New York – June 3, 2002 – Public outcry over steroids in baseball is rooted in two concerns: the unnatural advantage gained by users and the reportedly devastating health dangers. According to anabolic steroid legal expert Richard D. Collins, Esq., who has a background as a criminal prosecutor as well as a certified personal trainer, no one can deny the great advantage that enhanced strength and muscle can provide to athletes in pitching and batting, and the coercive effect this “unfair advantage” may have upon non-using players seeking to maintain parity is troubling. A serious dialogue over banning steroids from baseball is due, says Collins, including full exploration of the costs, medical privacy issues, proper testing procedures, and loophole and false positive problems. But Collins wants an honest dialogue, not a wild pitch.

Collins objects to distorted or exaggerated health warnings to bolster the “unfair advantage” argument, and criticizes the propaganda campaign against anabolic steroids that has demonized them to the public. Are steroids dangerous? They sure can be, says Collins, but so can aspirin, air travel, and driving a car. Collins warns that like all prescription medications, anabolic steroids can have adverse side effects, including serious ones, particularly if self-administered in the absence of medical supervision or in excessive dosages. Teens should absolutely never use steroids.

But media reports that have linked anabolic steroids with frightening dangers to the liver, heart, prostate and connective tissues of healthy mature adult males don’t always stand up to scrutiny, he says. As detailed in his web site at www.SteroidLaw.com, the medical research underlying some reports has been of questionable applicability to healthy athletes – many studies have focused on patients who were already very sick and old. Other studies have failed to differentiate between types of anabolic steroids, improperly generalizing adverse effects to all anabolic steroids, particularly in the association of steroids to liver problems. In many cases, Collins asserts, the lay press has relied upon biased authorities with strong ties to government or organized sports that have exaggerated the risks to discourage use and to further their own agenda.

Scientific and medical authorities that have objectively reviewed the overall medical literature have concluded that most steroid side effects in athletes are mild and reversible, especially as compared to the risks of death or disability associated with cigarette smoking, cocaine use, or chronic alcohol abuse. Collins notes that many more people have died or been permanently injured from botched liposuctions and other cosmetic surgery procedures in the past few years than by non-medical anabolic steroid use. Further, there is mounting evidence proving the significant benefits of safe anabolic steroid administration, especially in improving the quality of life in HIV+ men and in treating “andropause” – the physical and sexual symptoms of male aging.

If our paramount concern for athletes is forced health safety, Collins says, cigarettes and alcohol should have been outlawed long ago. But if the concern is the potential dishonor and dehumanization of sports by an escalating chemical “arms race,” then the arguments to ban steroids in baseball are intellectually honest and deserve serious consideration.

Rick Collins, Esq., is a former prosecutor and a recognized legal authority on sports drugs. He has represented or consulted with hundreds of clients across the country on issues concerning steroids and sports supplements. Involved with the strength training community for nearly twenty-five years, he has been nationally certified as a personal trainer by the American Council on Exercise after an intensive course of study in human anatomy, exercise performance, training theories, nutrition and kinesiology. He is well versed in the literature pertaining to anabolic steroids for non-medical use in both scientific journals and lay publications. He regularly corresponds with many of the world’s foremost authorities in the field, and has interviewed over a hundred strength athletes and aesthetic users regarding their use of these hormones. He authors a monthly column for the nationally circulated Muscular Development magazine, and is a member of their expert Advisory Board. He has been interviewed as an authority on sports drugs in talk radio interviews and by numerous online and print publications, including ESPN.com, The New York Times, the Village Voice, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Shreveport Times. He has written extensively on the topic of illicit anabolic steroid use in journals and magazines, most recently in featured articles for the Criminal Justice Journal of the New York State Bar Association and The Champion, the journal of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

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Contact: Richard Collins

Richard Collins can be contacted through Collins, McDonald & Gann at 516-294-0300, info@cmgesq.com, or through www.SteroidLaw.com

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