FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan helped push Major League Baseball toward a program to discourage the use of anabolic steroids last summer. Now, he's focusing on ephedrine.
The ranking Democrat on the Senate Consumer Affairs Subcommittee that oversees professional sports recently called for hearings to examine the widespread use of ephedrine-based products among professional athletes.
If Dorgan has his way, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball Players Association director Donald Fehr will be summoned to Washington to explain why there are no major-league restrictions on the herbal stimulant and weight-loss aid that apparently contributed to the heatstroke death of Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.
"It's tragic to see a young athlete give his life to these substances," Dorgan said yesterday. "Apparently, that's what happened here."
Dorgan, who chaired a similar hearing on steroid abuse last June after revelations by former baseball stars Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco suggested that baseball might be rife with illegal performance-enhancing drugs, has made the request for a hearing to new committee chairman John McCain. No date has been set, but McCain, an Arizona Republican, took part in the steroid hearing and is expected to go along with an ephedrine probe.
It is possible that Major League Baseball will reach a compromise with the players union to restrict the use of ephedrine and make a Senate hearing less urgent, but the agreement reached during baseball's labor talks to address the troublesome steroid controversy has created skepticism that the sport can effectively police itself when it comes to substance abuse.
"When I originally looked at the agreement, I thought it was a step forward because baseball was so far behind other sports in this area," Dorgan said. "Clearly, it wasn't enough."
The attempt to control the use of ephedrine figures to be even more difficult, since products like the one used by Bechler are legal and sold over the counter. The Food and Drug Administration is awaiting a research study from the Rand Corp. that could provide a rationale for federal action, but that isn't going to happen overnight.
In the meantime, the only way that baseball's drug policy can be changed is through negotiations with the union.
