Steroids are a growing problem

Essay by stlcardsboy21High School, 12th gradeA-, April 2007

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Recently, steroids have been featured in the media for many reasons. One of the main reasons is the use of steroids by many high profile athletes such as Barry Bonds and Shawne Merriman. Steroid use in athletics, such as baseball and track and field, has been growing at an alarming rate, and scientists have been developing stronger performance enhancers that are much harder to detect by standard drug tests. Many teenagers have now started using steroids after seeing their favorite athlete perform almost superhuman feats such as hitting a baseball over five hundred feet. This trend of steroid use among athletes, and now even teenagers, can cause more harm than many people think. Steroids are a serious danger to athletes and teenagers in America today.

The history of steroids can be traced back all the way to the late 1930's. Anabolic steroids were originally developed by scientists for medical purposes.

One of the more common uses for steroids then was as a treatment for a condition called hypogonadism. This condition was caused by the inability of the testes to produce enough testosterone for normal growth, development, and sexual functioning. Shortly after the development of anabolic steroids, scientists discovered that the substances were also capable of helping increase the growth of skeletal muscle in the body. Bodybuilders and weightlifters soon found out about the discovery and began to use the substances for muscle growth. Soon, other athletes realized that anabolic steroids could help them perform better in their sport. This was the beginning of steroid use by athletes.

Many people in America and around the world use steroids illegally because they have many performance-enhancing effects on the body. There are two main types of steroids. The type that is used to gain lean muscle mass is referred to as anabolic...