MCGWIRE TAKES HORMONE, SAYS EVERYBODY DOES

Sitting on the top shelf of Mark McGwire's locker, next to a can of Popeye
spinach and packs of sugarless chewing gum, is a brown bottle labeled
Androstenedione.

For more than a year, McGwire says, he has been using the
testosterone-producing pill, which is allowed in baseball but banned in the
National Football League, the Olympics and in U.S. college sports.

No one suggests that McGwire wouldn ' t be closing in on Roger Maris ' s
home-run record without the over-thecounter drug. After all, he hit 49
homers without it as a rookie in 1987, and more than 50 each of the past
two seasons.

But the drug's ability to raise levels of the male hormone, which builds
lean muscle mass and promotes recovery after injury, is seen outside
baseball as cheating and potentially dangerous.

"Everything I've done is natural--- everybody that I know in the game of
baseball uses the same stuff I use," said McGwire, who also takes the
musclebuilder Creatine, an amino acid powder.

But many players insist they do not take Androstenedione, although the use
of other supplements is common.

Sammy Sosa, who trails McGwire by three in the home-run chase, uses
Creatine after games to keep up his weight and strength. Before games he
takes the Chinese herb ginseng. But Sosa said he doesn't use
Androstenedione or any other testosterone booster.

"Anything illegal is definitely wrong," said Mo Vaughn, the Boston slugger,
who said he does not take Androstenedione. "But if you get something over
the counter and legal guys in that power-hitter position are going to use
them. Strength is the key to maintaining and gaining endurance for 162
games. The pitchers keep getting bigger and stronger."

Randy Barnes, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder in the
shot put, recently drew a lifetime ban for using Androstenedione. Barnes is
appealing the decision.

Major League Baseball, like the National Basketball Association, bans only
illegal drugs, and the reasoning behind this in both leagues has nothing to
do with competitive fairness or health: it's just that the players'
associations and management in both sports have not agreed on ways of
dealing with the issue.

Although Androstenedione is banned by many sports, it is not illegal in the
United States, which is one reason its effects have not been studied.

"It's just a fluke of the law that this is totally unstudied," said John
Lombardo of Ohio State University, the NFL's adviser on steroids

"Androstenedione is a steroid. It has anabolic qualities. Therefore it is
an anabolic steroid."

Anabolic steroids have been associated with potentially fatal side effects,
including heart attacks, cancers, liver dysfunction and severe disorders of
mood and mental function.

"You can't even buy testosterone with a regular prescription," said Gary
Wadler, an assistant professor of medicine at Cornell University Medical
College. "You have to get a triplicate prescription. It's a controlled
substance by an act of Congress."

Creatine, which McGwire believes helps him recover faster from daily
weightlifting, is purported to increase muscle energy and mass. Long-term
effects of the powder are unknown. It has been known to lead to muscle
tears and cramps due to dehydration.

"I've been using Creatine for about four years," said McGwire, who is
6feet-5 inches tall (1.95 meters) and weighs 245 pounds (111 kilograms).
''It's a good thing. It helps strength. It helps recovery. If you just use
common sense, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. It's a form of
eating red meat.''

David Tumbas, the Chicago Cubs' trainer, said he doesn't recommend Creatine
but doesn't tell players not to take it. He said he asked players in spring
training if they were using it or similar supplements, and that about 10
said they were. He said he believed no one on the Cubs was taking
Androstenedione.

The International Olympic Cornmittee added Androstenedione to its banned
list in December after it found the pills and various steroids being hawked
on the Internet by a company called Price's Power International of
Virginia. But that's hardly the only place where "Andro," as it is often
called, is available. Great Earth Vitamin, a U.S. chain store, sells the
drug over the counter and by mail order.

"It's very popular," said Andrew Fischman, director of marketing for the
chain. ''The primary target of it is the 18- to 35-year-old muscle-head."

Sam Gannelli, the San Diego Padres' conditioning coordinator, said:
"Compared to every other sport, there's no time to heal in baseball. In
football, you have six days off after every game. In basketball, it's three
or four days. These guys are going every day for six months. "

But he added that ' 'steroids can really get you broken down. They can do a
lot of harm in the long run."

EPO Use Said to Be High in Italy

The drug erythropoietin more commonly known as EPO, is widely used by
Italian soccer players to enhance performance, an Italian Olympic official
was quoted as saying on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported.

Sandro Donati, manager of the scientific research center run by the Italian
Olympic Committee, was quoted in Le Journal du Dimanche, a French
newspaper, as saying that a continuing judicial inquiry into drug-taking in
Italy would confirm the use of EPO.

He said: "The situation is without doubt worse with the clubs in the
Italian league than in other countries."

EPO is a synthetic hormone that stimulates the production of red blood
cells which can improve endurance.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan