Home Run King*
Barry Bonds's indictment is only the tip of a public health issue.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

THE USE OF anabolic steroids without a doctor's supervision can cause mood swings and suicidal feelings, skin disorders, stunted growth, liver damage, and heart attacks. Along with the health risks, there is the risk of going to jail. Disgraced Olympian Marion Jones found that out Oct. 5, when she pleaded guilty to three counts of lying to federal agents about her steroid use and an unrelated financial matter. Now it is baseball home run king Barry Bonds's turn to face charges of lying to a federal grand jury about his own alleged use of illegal steroids. Whether or not Mr. Bonds is convicted -- and he is entitled to a presumption of innocence -- his indictment and Ms. Jones's guilty plea send a strong and welcome signal that the federal government takes steroid abuse seriously.

Our concern is not so much for the integrity of major league baseball, though it is indeed called into question by a grand jury's allegation that its greatest superstar is a cheater and by abundant evidence from other sources that Mr. Bonds is not an isolated case. An asterisk for records set during the "steroid era"? There should probably be an asterisk next to every mark set during the years before 1947, when the "color line" protected white players from competition with African American athletes.

But steroid abuse also is a public health issue. Between 2 and 5 percent of youths of high school age have at least tried steroids and more than 40 percent of high schoolers consider them easy to obtain. Obviously, this understates the degree to which the problem is concentrated among athletes. Youngsters striving to do their best on the gridiron, diamond or track take their cues from the likes of Ms. Jones and Mr. Bonds. And they do so not only in a symbolic sense. Mr. Bonds and other baseball superstars sit at the top of a competitive ladder. When they get to its lucrative top rung through unlawful, artificial means, they force those further down to choose between imitating the cheaters, at the risk of their long-term health, and preserving their health, at the risk of their athletic careers. The result is a steroid problem that cascades through minor league, college and high school athletics.

Let the Bonds trial begin. And let the forthcoming report of former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchell be uncompromising in its scrutiny of everyone who may share responsibility for the dangerous epidemic in the national

pastime.