Steroids: A Threat to Legitimate Sport?

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         Steroids: A Threat to Legitimate Sport?

Justin Douglas

Steroids have been around for a long time.  Germans gave them to their soldiers to make them more aggressive in combat.  Doctors have also prescribed steroids as a medication to some persons.  There is a big controversy over steroid use.  There are also many different ways steroids can be used. Most cases using them now though are illegal.  Some Athletes attempt to gain advantages over others by using steroids, though there are strict rules against this.  Doctors, philosophers, and journalists all have many different views on whom and how they should or not be used.

        

Forms of steroids can be made in the body by the adrenal glands or by the reproductive glands.  Doctors have deemed it useful in treating some sicknesses and illnesses, such as different types of cancer.  Steroids have been prescribed to decrease swilling around cancerous areas and to prevent sickness from chemotherapy treatments.  When given with chemotherapy, steroids are only taken for a few days at a time, but they are prescribed each chemotherapy treatment.  All steroids have side effects, ranging from minimal to severe; depending on the size of the dosage and the length the dosage is taken.  Even though most people consider side effects to be harmful, some steroids are used just for that.  Side effects of some steroids are beneficial to people with cancer because the steroids can boost the lost appetite and the well being of the patient.

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Philosopher Sidney Gendin, a professor at Eastern Michigan University, is entirely pro-steroid use.  He suggests most physicians are very ignorant even in the medical literature that researches steroids.  He believes that self-taught bodybuilding experts know more about the medical aspects of steroids and related drugs than ninety-five percent of all physicians (Gendin 1).  Gendin suggests two reasons steroids are frowned upon is that the use of steroids is harmful to the user, and those who use steroids gain an unfair advantage over those who don’t (Gendin 2).  Gendin also suggests that the general philosophy that steroid use is bad ...

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