Sean Moloughney10.01.10
As a baseball fan, I feel like I’ve come to grips with a couple of disappointing facts over the past few years: 1) The “Steroids Era” has left the game with a big black eye that will need considerable time to heal; and 2) Even with a level playing field, I’ll still never play baseball on a professional level. (While I pretty much figured that second one out by the time I was 12 years old I thought I would hold out for another 16 years, just in case someone wanted to sign me to a huge contract I didn’t deserve. No such luck.)
The chapter in baseball’s epic drama that involves performance-enhancing drugs has left more than a few asterisks in the record books, and has done more than simply establish “competitive advantage” and “growth hormone” as colloquial phrases in the lexicon of Joe and Jane America.
Baseball fans of all ages and backgrounds paid top-dollar to see their heroes chase history—to witness Roger Clemens join the 300-win club and Barry Bonds shatter Hank Aaron’s iconic homerun record. Today, facing felony charges related to their alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs, both Clemens and Bonds wait for the day they will stand trial, instead of the day they arrive in Cooperstown, which houses baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Quite simply, we were duped. And the use of banned substances in professional sports has had serious, long-lasting consequences for the dietary supplement industry, which has become somewhat of a scapegoat for either really smart or really dumb athletes who test positive for substances banned by their sport. (For more on sports nutrition and the supplement industry see our latest article in the October issue.)
In another somewhat related controversy, the other day I read an article that contained two words, which jumped off the page like a ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez, or a salmon swimming upstream: “growth hormone.” Accompanying the article was a photo of a salmon that looked like it was on steroids, as it dwarfed the traditional, run-of-the-mill, weaker salmon next to it.
In fact, the genetically modified (GM) Atlantic salmon has been altered to produce growth hormone all the time, instead of only in warm weather. The salmon, deemed "Frankenfish" by some critics, could help meet growing demand for seafood without impacting natural fisheries, according to AquaBounty Technologies, which developed the fish.
An FDA advisory committee met recently to review safety information regarding the salmon, which could become the first GM animal approved for human consumption. Approval would most likely pave the way for other genetically altered animals, such as a pig that has been developed to be more environmentally friendly.
The reality is GM products already exist in our food supply. And quite honestly, those don’t scare me as much as some of the packaged goods that have been processed and manipulated in factories to contain disgusting amounts of sugar, cholesterol and saturated fat.
But let’s be sure we’re smart about this process and recognize the potential implications. Let’s weigh the costs and benefits while considering potential pitfalls—like labeling issues—with the best interest of consumers in mind. After all, this isn’t a game, and we can’t afford to be duped.
