NFL Supplement Policy Not Hindered By Lack Of GMPs – Tagliabue
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
The absence of dietary supplement good manufacturing practices has had minimal impact on the National Football League's steroid policy, according to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
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The absence of dietary supplement good manufacturing practices has had minimal impact on the National Football League's steroid policy, according to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The NFL has been able to shape its own drug and supplement policy largely irrespective of FDA enforcement efforts under the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act, Tagliabue told the House Government Reform Committee April 27. The NFL was asked to appear before the committee as part of its ongoing investigation into steroid use in professional sports. "Would it not be helpful if FDA issued the long-overdue good manufacturing rules for supplements?" Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) asked. "Is it not a problem that the FDA has not moved forward on DSHEA and things like that?" "It is and it isn't," Tagliabue replied. "The FDA issue is in some ways a broader and different issue focused on the population at large. We presume to have the authority by agreement with the players to ban things that the FDA does not ban." The football hearing follows a March session on steroids in Major League Baseball, brought on in part by a federal probe into supplement manufacturer BALCO (1 (Also see "MLB Controversy Spotlights Line Between Steroids, Supplements" - Pink Sheet, 13 Dec, 2004.), p. 9). Overall, committee members expressed satisfaction with the NFL's method of controlling use of steroids and other stimulants - an approach the league has sometimes touted as more comprehensive than federal regulation. Tagliabue noted that the NFL "banned ephedra before the FDA did," and would not remove the supplement from its banned products list despite a recent Utah court ruling striking down FDA's ban on low-dose ephedra products. "We're going to continue to view ephedra as dangerous and banned for our players," he said. "We feel there's sufficient scientific data and medical opinion that shows that for athletes with the characteristics and the work requirements of ours, it's a dangerous supplement." The NFL's list of substances banned under its 2004 policy includes a number of other compounds that are available OTC, including synephrine and pseudoephedrine unless prescribed by team medical personnel. Androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) are banned by the league as anabolic and androgenic agents. An appendix to the official policy encourages players "to avoid the use of supplements altogether, or at the very least to be extremely careful about what you choose to take." The document further notes that a "positive" test finding ingestion of anabolic steroids, hormones or other banned substances "will not be excused because it results from the use of a dietary supplement, rather than from the direct use of steroids." NFL Players Association Director Gene Upshaw reinforced the league's zero tolerance policy with regard to inadvertent ingestion of banned substances. "When [players] come to the part of the test for the appeal hearing and say 'I bought it down at the GNC or some other store and something was in it,' that's not an excuse that gets them off," he said. Such an incident occurred in 1999 when a Chicago Bears player claimed he inadvertently ingested the steroid nandrolone in a dietary supplement (2 (Also see "NFL supplement suspension" - Pink Sheet, 6 Dec, 1999.), p. 12). "They are held strictly accountable for what's in their bodies, and that's why we moved to that kind of a testing program," Upshaw concluded. To further prevent the confusion of supplements with potentially illicit substances, the NFL teamed with testing firm NSF International last year to offer a testing program for sports supplement manufacturers (3 (Also see "NSF Teams Up With NFL For Supplement Certification Program" - Pink Sheet, 9 Feb, 2004.), p. 12). The program is designed to allow players "to use legal supplements that are deemed to be healthful to use without running the risk of taking any drug or banned substance," according to Upshaw. Abbott's EAS is one of a small number of brands currently participating in the program. The NFL/NFLPA seal began appearing on EAS products in September 2004. |