HEARING HIGHLIGHTS ALARM OVER STUDENT USE OF SUPPLEMENTS

Keeping Performance-Enhancing Drugs Away From Young Athletes Would Be
Difficult, Costly, Experts Say

SACRAMENTO -- Although the sometimes lethal stimulant ephedra has
been banned from the Olympics and professional football, even middle
school students now are using it to boost their sports prowess,
school officials and medical experts testified before a joint state
Senate committee hearing Monday.

Schools neither ban nor test for the unregulated dietary supplement,
which is sold over the counter in health food stores.

Ephedra is nearly as potent as speed and has been linked to more than
80 deaths nationwide, but it has become one of the supplements of
choice among teen athletes feeling the pressure to perform, and it
has politicians and parents alike most worried. They're also alarmed
by the boost the entire sports supplement industry has received from
teens as the result of sports celebrities such as baseball slugger
Mark McGwire revealing they excelled while taking products containing
androstenedione or creatine.

``It's not a matter of `Are you taking?' It's, `Hey, what are you
taking? And where can I get it?' '' said Greg Davis, 19, the former
captain of the varsity football team at Danville's San Ramon Valley
High School. Davis testified that he suffered two seizures after
taking four so-called performance-enhancing products in 1999 and 2000
but that his medical problems ended once he stopped taking the
products.

Indeed, believing sports supplements are no more harmful than
vitamins and can increase their chances of winning college
scholarships, an estimated 1 million youths ages 12 to 17 have taken
them, according to a national survey commissioned by Blue Cross and
Blue Shield. Twenty percent of the teens polled said they knew
someone who was taking the supplements.

Long-term risks unclear

Yet seizures, strokes, heart attacks and kidney problems are just a
few of the most severe side effects associated with the supplements,
and youths need neither a doctor's prescription nor a parent's
permission to acquire them. The products have not been approved by
the government and have rarely, if ever, been tested on minors.
Researchers are not sure what the long-term health risks might be.

Worried that student-athletes may be putting their developing bodies
at risk, Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, introduced legislation
restricting the sale of ephedra-based dietary supplements to minors
in California. The bill, SB 397, is currently at the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.

But experts testified Monday that keeping the popular pills out of
the hands of student-athletes may be a tall order and will likely
take money, time and a sweeping public education campaign to achieve.

The Internet is teeming with Web sites targeting kids barely old
enough to participate on teams. The sites tout the popular pills and
potions as ``safe and designed to enhance workouts and development.''

One, Teen Advantage Creatine Serum, bills itself as Developed
especially for young aspiring athletes 8-19 years of age,'' and comes
in a bright red liquid form, rather than as a traditional powder.

By all accounts, even middle school students are biting. About 2
percent of youths ages 10-14 have taken substances they thought would
boost their athletic ability, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield poll
determined.

``It is an epidemic,'' said Roger Blake, assistant executive director
of the California Interscholastic Federation. ``Coaches say, `We need
to get bigger, stronger and faster to be competitive next year.' ''

High schools could use voluntary or mandatory drug testing programs
in the attempt to curb the rampant use of supplements. But such
programs are costly for cash-strapped school systems and can be
embarrassing for students, who are required to urinate into specimen
cups in front of a test administrator.

Plus, some savvy supplement users and abusers always seem to find
ways to cheat on their drug tests. College athletes who are regularly
tested for performance-enhancing supplements have introduced agents
such as bleach or eyedrops into test tubes to throw off the results,
experts testified. Others stop their supplement use weeks before the
test and start up again after passing.

Many teens believe ephedra, creatine and androstenedione, or
``andro,'' are no more dangerous than multivitamins.

``People exaggerate the side effects way too much, I think,'' said
Daniel Han, 18, a clerk at General Nutrition Center in Cupertino who
has taken ephedra for a year. It gives me a lot of energy, and I've
noticed no side effects.''

Doctors, however, say the supplements can have serious side effects.

Andro, which is naturally found in the body and is involved in the
production of testosterone in men, could cause menstrual
irregularities, excessive body hair growth and a deepening voice in
female athletes taking too much of it, said Gary Green, a
sports-medicine physician at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory.

Ephedra, also known as ma huang, is considered even more dangerous.
Since 1994, products containing ephedrine have been linked to dozens
of deaths nationwide and prompted more than 1,400 complaints,
according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Banned by NCAA, NFL

Concerned about the risk to its players, the National Football League
added ephedra to its list of banned substances last summer. The
International Olympic Committee also bars the use of ephedra among
athletes, as does the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

State senators attending Monday's hearing said it was frustrating
that there aren't similar restrictions -- and protections -- in place
at the high school level.

``This has a serious impact on our young people's future,'' Speier
said, ``not just whether they'll get a football scholarship but
whether they'll be able to have kids in 10 years.''